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54th  Congress,  )  SENATE.  (  Document 

1st  Session.       )  {     No.  315. 


HEARINGS 


ON 


HOUSE  BILL  35  (ON  THE  NICARAGUA  CANAL) 


BEFORE  THB 


COMMITTEE  OiN  INTERSTATE  AND  FOREIGN  COMMERCE, 


HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES. 


WASHINGTON : 

GOVERNMENT   PRINTING  OFFICE. 
1896. 


HEARINGS  ON  HOUSE  BILL  35  BEFORE  THE  COMMITTEE  ON 
INTERSTATE  AND  FOREIGN  COMMERCE. 


Washington,  D.  C,  Friday,  March  37,  1896. 

The  committee  met  at  10,30  a.  m.  for  the  purpose  of  a  hearing  on 
House  bill  35,  ou  the  ISTicaragua  Canal. 

STATEMENT  OF  HOH.  WARHEE  MILLER,  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Mr.  Chairman  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Committee  :  I  do  not 
appear  here  to  day  to  advocate  the  passage  of  the  bill  before  the  com- 
mittee, or  any  other  bill.  The  Nicaragua  Canal  Company  has  never 
yet  asked  Congress  to  do  anything  in  this  matter,  and  it  never  will  so 
long  as  I  am  at  the  head  of  it.  Before  I  finish  1  will  give  you  the  his- 
tory of  the  first  movement  in  Congress  in  regard  to  this  matter,  and 
what  the  company  and  myself  had  to  do  therewith. 

First,  I  want  to  give  a  brief  history  leading  up  to  the  concessions 
from  the  Nicaraguan  Government  now  held  by  our  company.  In  1884 
a  treaty  was  negotiated  by  Secretary  Frelinghuysen,  known  as  the 
Zevalla-Frebnghuyseu  treaty,  giving  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  the  right  to  build  a  canal  through  the  Republic  of  Mcaragua 
from  ocean  to  ocean,  and  giving  it  a  large  amount  of  land  upon  both 
sides  of  the  canal;  in  fact,  giving  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
right  over  the  entire  line.  That  treaty  came  to  the  Senate,  of  which  I 
was  a  member,  and  would  undoubtedly  have  been  ratified  had  it  not 
been  withdrawn  from  the  Senate  by  President  Cleveland  immediately 
after  coming  into  office  in  his  first  Administration.  The  treaty  was 
withdrawn  from  the  Senate  and  never  returned. 

Immediately  after  that  a  number  of  gentlemen  in  New  York  formed 
what  was  known  as  the  Mcaragua  Canal  Association.  It  was  not  au 
incorporation  or  chartered  company,  but  simply  a  syndicate  or  volun- 
tary gathering  togetherof  tweuty-flveor  thirty  gentlemen  moved  thereto 
chiefly  by  the  representations  of  Admiral  Ammen;  Mr.  Menocal,  an 
engineer  in  the  Navy;  Commander,  now  Captain,  Taylor;  Captain 
Evans,  and  other  ofiicers  of  the  United  States  Navy  who  had  given 
consideration  to  these  matters  of  the  canal. 

This  body  of  gentlemen  raised  a  considerable  sum  of  money — two  or 
three  hundred  thousand  dollars — and  sent  Mr.  Menocal  to  Nicaragua, 
and  through  his  services  they  secured  the  concessions  made  by  the 
Government  of  Nicaragua,  which  concessions  are  now  held  by  "The 
Maritime  Canal  Company"  and  the  ones  now  under  consideration. 

Briefly,  those  concessions  gave  the  owners  the  exclusive  right  to 
build  and  operate  a  canal  across  Nicaragua  for  a  period  of  ninety-nine 
years,  with  certain  conditions  that  it  shall  be  extended  for  ninety-nine 
years,  making  nearly  two  hundred  years  for  the  life  of  the  concessions, 
Mr.  Menocal  was  sent  to  Nicaragua,  because  he  had  already  made  two 
surveys  of  the  route  under  the  direction  of  the  United  States  Govern- 

3 


4  NICARAGUA    CANAL 

meiit,  aiid  was  familiar  with  the  route,  and  his  acquaintauce  with  the 
l^eople  and  knowledge  of  the  question  indicated  that  he  would  be  a 
suitable  party  to  make  negotiations  with  the  Nicaraguan  Government, 
which  wore  made  successfullj^;  and  under  those  concessions  the 
company  has  been  oi)erating  ever  since. 

Upon"^  Mr.  Menocal's  retnrn,  a  company  was  organized,  called  the 
Isicaragna  Canal  Construction  Company,  under  the  laws  of  the  State 
of  Colorado,  with  a  nominal  capital  of  $12,000,000.  The  concessions 
obtained  by  Mr.  Menocal  were  transferred  to  the  Nicaragua  Canal  Con- 
struction Company.  Money  was  raised  and  an  expedition  was  sent  out 
in  November,  1887,  with  Mr.  Menocal  at  the  head  of  it,  consisting  of  a 
large  number  of  engineer  officers.  An  establishment  was  made  at  Grey- 
town,  and  finally  surveys  of  the  canal  were  commenced,  which  continued 
f(U'  a  period  of  three  years,  during  which  time  a  large  amount  of  money, 
something  over  $300,000,  was  expended  in  engineering  work  and  pre- 
paring plans  for  the  construction  of  the  canal.  While  this  work  was 
going  on  the  company  became  convinced  that  it  ought  to  have  a  charter 
iVom  the  Government  of  tl-e  United  States,  iu  order  to  secure  proper 
protection  in  Nicaragua  in  case  of  any  internal  or  external  troubles 
which  might  arise.  So  the  company  came  to  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States  and  asked  for  a  charter.  This  charter  was  granted — a  rare  thing 
for  Congress  to  grant  a  special  charter.  This  charter  was  granted  on 
February  20,  1889,  and  is  knowu  as  the  Maritime  Canal  Company  of 
Nicaragua.  It  provided  for  the  issuance  of  $100,000,000  of  stock,  and 
$200,000,000  if  necessary.  It  gave  the  company  all  the  ordinary  and 
necessary  powers  of  a  corporation. 

The  Nicaragua  Canal  Construction  Company  transferred  the  conces- 
sions to  the  Maritime  Canal  Company  chartered  by  Congress,  which 
then  became  what  might  be  termed  the  parent  company,  and  it  took 
back  from  the  Maritime  Canal  Company  the  contract  by  which  it  was 
to  build  the  canal  and  turned  it  over  to  the  Maritime  Canal  Company 
for  the  securities  of  that  company,  which  it  was  to  take  and  negotiate 
as  best  it  could.  The  amount  of  securities  fixed  was  $150,000,000  of 
first-mortgage  bonds  and  $100,000,000  of  stock.  The  work  went  on 
under  the  Nicaragua  Construction  Company,  and  the  affairs  of  the 
original  Nicaragua  Canal  Association  weie  turned  over  to  tlie  Con- 
struction Company,  and,  as  I  have  just  explained,  the  concessions  were 
finally  put  into  the  hands  of  the  Maritime  Canal  Company,  which  had 
been  chartered  by  Congress. 

In  the  spring  of  1800,  after  I  had  retired  from  the  Senate,  the  gentle- 
men having  this  matter  in  charge  came  to  me  and  asked  me  to  take  the 
presidency  of  the  Nicaragua  Caual  Construction  Company.  After  con- 
siderable hesitation  and  consideration,  I  finally  accei)ted  it,  and  for  five 
years  past  I  have  given  it  more  time  and  have  done  more  hard  work  in 
it  than  I  have  ever  done  in  any  private  enterprise  with  which  I  have 
been  connected  since  1  have  been  engaged  in  business.  From  that  time 
down  to  1893  I  raised  in  cash  something  over  $3,000,000  by  the  issu- 
ance of  the  securities  of  the  company,  and  I  also  procured  a  large 
amount  of  machinery  and  services  for  which  the  company  i)aid  in 
securities.  The  sum  I  raised  myself,  personally,  and  that  which  had 
been  raised  by  the  company  before  I  became  its  president,  amounts  to 
something  over  $4,500,000,  counting  the  machinery  and  labor  at  its 
actual  value.  The  concessions  required,  first,  that  the  final  surveys  and 
location  of  the  canal  should  be  made  within  eighteen  months  after  a 
fixed  time,  and  tliat  within  a  year  at  least  $2,000,000  should  be  expended 
in  cash  upon  the  work,  and  it  was  to  be  approved  by  the  Nicaraguaii 
Government  itself. 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  O 

When  1  came  into  the  service  of  the  company  I  found  much  less  than 
$1,0(10,000  had  been  expended  up  to  that  time,  and  tliat  the  two  years 
wouhl  expire  on  the  1st  of  October  of  that  year.  So  I  went  to  work  to 
push  the  enterprise  rai>idly,  and  in  order  to  comply  with  tlie  conces- 
sion and  expend  $2,000,000,  whicli  we  were  compelled  to  expend  during 
the  first  year.  I  began  work,  and  as  a  result  of  it  I  constructed  a 
railroad  eleven  and  a  half  miles  from  Greytown  across  the  lagoon  up  to 
the  point  of  the  first  lock.  This  was  a  substantial  railroad,  built  under 
very  great  difticulties.  During  that  entire  season  the  land  from  Grey- 
town  to  Lock  No.  1  was  under  water,  because  it  was  the  rainy  season. 
The  water  was  from  2  to  4i  feet  deep,  and  the  ground  was  covered  with 
tropical  vegetation.  I  was  told  by  railroad  men  and  engineers  that  1 
could  not  build  this  within  the  time,  and  that  it  could  only  be  built  by 
putting  up  trestles  and  piles  the  entire  distance.  I  was  not  satisfied 
with  that  judgment,  and  finally  called  into  counsel  Mr.  C.  P.  Treat,  of 
Chicago,  a  young,  energetic  man  who  had  made  a  fortune  in  the  West 
building  railroads,  lie  had  spent  months  going  over  the  pro^wsed  line, 
with  a  view  of  making  a  bid  upon  a  portion  of  the  work.  I  asked  him 
if  he  could  build  a  railroad  in  the  lagoon  within  the  time  at  a  reason- 
able price. 

The  object  was,  of  course,  to  enable  us  to  get  into  the  foothills  up  to  the 
locks  and  the  great  divide,  because  the  length  of  tiuie  required  to  build 
the  canal  was  based  upon  the  length  of  time  required  to  build  the  locks 
and  cut  the  divide,  a  distance  of  13  miles  from  Greytown.  Mr.Treat  went 
to  Nicaragua.  I  sent  an  agent  to  Jamaica,  and  he  sent  a  large  number 
of  v/orkmen  from  Jamaica.  I  sent  rails,  ties,  and  a  working  train,  and 
the  work  began  with  1,000  men.  The  ground  was  under  water  substan- 
tifjlly  the  entire  distance,  and  the  men  worked  in  the  water  during  the 
whole  time.  The  railroad  was  constructed  by  cutting  down  trees  and 
building  a  corduroy  road  some  4  feet  in  thickness  of  solid  wood  the 
entire  distance.  Upon  this  the  track  was  laid,  and  sand  (dredged  from 
the  mouth  of  the  canal)  carried  by  train  was  put  upon  this  temporary 
track  or  wooden  road  until  it  was  buried  in  the  sand ;  and  in  that  way 
the  road  was  built  for  the  entire  distance,  and  to-day,  after  a  period  of 
five  years,  it  is  in  fair  order.  I  have  passed  over  it  at  the  rate  of  20 
miles  an  hour. 

The  road  was  constructed  within  the  time  at  a  cost,  which  our  books 
will  show,  of  $32,000  a  mile,  and  was  completed  perfectly.  That 
included  10  per  cent  commission  paid  to  Mr.  Treat  for  doing  the  work. 
We  employed  1,600  men  all  the  time,  and  but  seven  or  eight  died,  and 
four  of  those  were  killed  by  accidents  upon  the  road.  Only  four  or  five 
died  from  the  effects  of  the  climate.  I  speak  of  that  to  show  you  that 
Nicaragua  is  not  so  unhealthy  a  climate  as  has  been  generally  repre- 
sented. All  these  statements  which  I  make  can  be  verified  by  the 
records  of  the  company. 

We  also  purchased  at  the  same  time  the  entire  dredging  plant  of 
the  American  Dredging  Company,  which  had  done  substantially  all  the 
work  at  Panama  and  which  originally  cost  nearly  $2,000,000.  We  began 
the  actual  excavation  of  the  canal  at  Greytown  Harbor,  and  excavated 
to  a  depth  of  17  feet  a  distance  of  nearly  2  miles,  and  the  work 
remains  to  show  for  itself.  We  also  began  the  construction  of  a  pier 
which  was  to  make  the  entrance  into  the  harbor  safe.  We  extended 
this  pier  a  distance  of  1,000  feet;  finally  it  is  to  be  extended  nearly 
6,000  feet.  The  construction  of  this  pier,  with  a  little  dredging,  made 
a  depth  of  14  feet  over  the  bar,  and  it  was  maintained  at  that  until  the 
company,  under  stress  of  financial  difficulties,  was  compelled  to  suspend 


6  NICARAGUA   CANAL. 

Operations.  We  proved  tliat  there  was  no  difficnlty  in  opening  tlie 
harbor.  Jjefore  that  time  vessels  had  to  lie  ont,  and  the  freight  was 
taken  to  the  shore  in  lighters  and  hauled  up  in  the  sand  by  the  power 
of  human  labor.  This  railroad  Avas  completed  at  this  price,  and  it  was 
a  cheaper  piece  of  work  than  any  that  ever  has  been  done  in  the  United 
States  or  anywhere  else  in  the  world.  It  shows  what  work  will  cost  in 
that  country.  Mr.  Menocal  bad  estimated  tlie  cost  at  $60,000  per  mile, 
and  we  built  it  at  $29,000  per  mile  and  paid  Mr.  Treat  a  commission  of  10 
per  cent  for  his  services  and  skill,  which  carried  the  cost  up  to  $32,000. 
I  mention  this  in  order  to  show  you  the  cost  of  building  railroads  in 
that  country,  and  also  to  show  you  that  we  built  at  one-half  of  our 
engineer's  estimate. 

We  went  on  with  the  work  and  with  the  negotiations.  Immediately 
after  I  came  into  the  company  negotiations  began  with  the  Baring 
Bros.,  of  London.  They  sent  gentlemen  to  our  office  in  Xew  York,  an 
engineer  and  a  lawyer,  to  examine  our  affairs.  Those  gentlemen  made 
an  examination  and  returned  to  Loudon,  but  within  thirty  days  after 
their  return  the  Baring  Bros.'  failure  came  on,  and  from  that  time  to 
this  there  never  has  been  a  time  when  an  enterprise  of  this  character 
could  have  been  floated,  except  at  very  low  rates  for  its  securities.  The 
panic  of  1893  came,  and  the  construction  company  was  compelled  to 
suspend  operations  tirst,  and  finally  it  was  compelled  to  go  into  the  hands 
of  a  receiver.  This,  mind  you,  did  not  aft'ect  the  parent  company,  which 
then  held,  and  now  holds,  the  concessions.  Immediately  after  tbe  Con- 
struction Company  went  into  the  hands  of  a  receiver,  a  committee  was 
organized  and  took  the  matter  up,  and  after  some  nine  or  ten  months 
of  work,  a  new  company  was  organized,  the  affairs  of  the  old  company 
were  settled  up,  and  every  dollar  of  its  obligations  was  paid.  The  new 
company  was  charteied  by  the  legislature  of  the  State  of  Vermont, 
and  was  organized  last  spring,  which  took  the  assets  of  the  old  com- 
pany, the  contract  for  building  the  canal,  and  the  stockholders  of  the 
old  company  of  course  came  into  possession  of  a  large  part  of  the  stock 
of  the  new  company  in  exchange  for  their  holdings  in  the  original 
company. 

This  briefly  is  the  condition  of  affairs  at  the  present  time.  The  Mari- 
time Canal  Company  own  the  concessions  from  the  Government  of 
Nicaragua,  and  their  standing  with  that  Government  is  in  a  satisfac- 
tory condition.  It  is  also  in  a  condition  to  enter  into  negotiations  for 
the  procurement  of  money  and  for  completing  the  work. 

I  said  at  the  beginning  that  I  was  not  here  to  advocate  this  bill  or 
any  other  bill.  This  bill  I  have  never  read,  although  one  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  committee  sent  me  a  copy  of  it.  Soon  after  I  became  ])r('si- 
dent  in  1890,  I  came  to  Washington  upon  some  private  business,  and 
while  sitting  in  the  room  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Senate,  Gen.  Anson 
McCook,  my  personal  friend.  Senator  Edmunds,  of  Vermont,  came  in 
and  congratulated  me  upon  having  taken  up  the  Nicaraguan  Canal  and 
wished  me  success.  He  asked,  "How  do  you  expect  to  get  funds  to 
build  this  canal?"  I  said,  "We  expect  .to  do  it  in  the  usual  way  by 
issuing  se(;urities  and  selling  them  at  such  price  as  we  can  get.  If  we 
can  not  sell  them  at  par,  as  we  do  not  expect  to,  we  may  get  80  or  70, 
and  if  Ave  can  not  do  tiiat,  perhaps  we  can  get  (>(►.  I  shall  undertake  in 
some  way  to  sell  enough  to  get  money  to  build  the  canal." 

Senator  Edmunds  said  to  me,  "Will  you  be  able  to  sell  them  in  this 
country?"  I  said,  "I  shall  try  to  sell  them  here,  and,  failing  in  that,  I 
shall  go  abroad;  and  of  course  as  this  country  is  taking  vast  sums  of 
money  frouj  Europe  to  build  railroads  at  the  present  time,  it  will  i)rob- 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  7 

ably  be  necessary  to  secure  the  bulk  of  the  money  abroad."  He  then 
said,  "  Wliere  will  the  control  be  then,  if  the  majority  of  the  stock  is 
held  abroad"?"  I  replied,  "Of  course  the  control  will  go  to  those  who 
furnish  a  majority  of  the  money  with  which  to  build  it,  and  that  should 
be  the  case."  He  said  that  ought  not  to  be.  It  ought  to  be  an  Amer- 
ican enterprise,  and  we  ought  to  raise  the  money  and  have  it  controlled 
by  the  American  people.  I  said,  "  Senator,  as  a  patriotic  citizen  I 
agree  with  your  statement  that  it  ought  to  be  an  American  enterprise, 
and  we  ought  to  make  it  such  and  keep  it  as  such ;  but  my  duty  to  the 
stockholders  is  to  get  the  money  where  and  how  I  can." 

A  few  days  afterwards,  I  received  a  letter  from  the  Foreign  Aifairs 
Committee  of  the  Senate  asking  me  to  come  to  Washington  to  be  exam- 
ined by  that  committee  of  the  Senate  in  executive  session.  I  came, 
and  remained  here  for  several  days.  It  turned  out  then  that  Senator 
Ednnmds  had  introduced  into  the  Senate  in  executive  session  a  resolu- 
tion instructing  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Affairs  to  inquire  into  the 
condition  of  the  Nicaragua  Canal  and  the  Maritime  Comj^any,  and 
report  to  the  Senate  what  the  condition  of  it  was,  and  what,  if  anything, 
the  Congress  of  the  United  States  ought  to  do  in  regard  to  the  matter. 
Then  things  went  on  for  several  weelcs  and  months.  I  made  several 
visits  to  this  city,  being  called  by  the  committee.  The  committee  finally 
said  to  me  that  they  thought  as  a  committee  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  ought  to  be  interested  in  this  enterprise,  and  perhajis 
ought  to  control  it,  and  asked  me  to  state  upon  what  terms  the  company 
would  be  willing  for  the  Government  to  go  into  the  enterprise.  I  said, 
"I  will  go  back  to  New  York  and  consult  the  leading  stockholders,  and 
wfll  give  you  an  answer."  I  went  back  to  New  York,  and  consulted 
with  the  leading  men  in  the  enterprise,  and  replied  by  letter  to  Senator 
Sherman,  chairman  of  the  committee,  that  in  our  judgment  the  stock- 
holders of  the  Nicaragua  Canal  Company  would  be  willing  that  the 
Government  should  take  control  of  the  company,  provided  it  wonld 
return  to  us  the  amount  of  money  that  we  had  expended  upon  the 
enterprise  up  to  that  time,  and  also  give  us  stock  of  the  Maritime  Com- 
pany to  whatever  amount  tliey  saw  fit  as  a  bonus,  or  bounty,  for  the 
time  and  energy  we  had  expended  and  the  risk  we  had  taken  in  putting 
our  money  into  the  enterprise. 

The  members  of  the  committee  expressed  their  belief  that  that  was 
a  most  liberal  offer  upon  our  i^art.  Tlie  committee  upon  the  strength 
of  that  prepared  a  report  and  a  bill,  which  was  reported  to  the  Senate. 
The  terms  of  the  bill  I  do  not  remember,  but  the  record  will  sliow 
what  they  were.  It  provided  for  the  return  of  the  money  we  had 
expended,  and  provided  also  that  the  Secretary  of  State  and  the  Sec- 
retary of  the  Treasury  should  audit  our  accounts  and  determine  what 
amount  we  had  expended,  and  also  provided  for  giving  us  some  of  the 
stock  of  the  Maritime  Company  as  a  bonus  for  our  time,  trouble,  and 
risk.  What  that  amount  was,  I  have  now  forgotten.  No  action  was 
had  upon  that  bill ;  but  the  next  year  the  same  committee  took  it  ux) 
again,  and  asked  me  again  to  come  before  the  committee,  which  I  did, 
and  gave  them  ray  suggestions. 

During  all  this  time,  I  had  traveled  over  the  United  States  and 
Europe.  I  had  made  three  trips  to  the  Pacific  Coast.  I  had  spoken 
in  nearly  every  city  of  importance  in  the  United  States,  before  many 
of  the  Chambers  of  Commerce,  and  other  bodies  in  regard  to  this  enter- 
prise, endeavoring  to  educate  the  people  of  the  country  up  to  the 
importance  of  tlie  undertaking,  thereby  seeking  to  secnre  the  coopera- 
tion of  the  American  people  in  taking  stock  and  bonds  j  but  I  found. 


8  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

wherever  I  went,  that  after  the  Senate  Committee  had  reported  its  first 
bill,  the  people  generally  came  to  the  conclusion  that  it  ought  to  be  a 
Government  enterprise  and  be  controlled  by  the  Government,  instead 
of  by  private  individuals.  The  people  said  that  if  they  put  their  money 
into  it,  the  Government  will  come  in  and  take  the  canal  and  we  shall 
simply  get  a  return  of  the  money,  without  any  especial  profit  being 
allowed  for  the  rislc  which  we  may  take.  I  then  came  before  the  com- 
mittee with  this  knowledge. 

1  had  traveled  over  the  country  three  times,  almost  50,000  miles,  made 
speeches,  and  wi'itten  many  articles.  I  told  the  committee  wliat  I  had 
found  to  be  the  o])inion  of  the  people — that  the  Government  ought  to 
control  it.  I  said,  "If  you  want  to  go  on  with  this  enterprise,  I  will 
make  this  suggestion  :  Let  the  Government  guarantee  the  bonds  of  the 
company  for  wliatever  amount  may  be  necessary,  and  for  this  the  Gov- 
ernment can  take  and  put  into  the  Treasury  of  the  United  States  either 
$70,000,000  or  $80,000,000  of  the  stock  of  the  company,  and  absolutely 
own  it,  because  of  this  guaranty,  upon  the  same  prinei])le  tliat  one  man 
pays  another  5  or  10  per  cent  for  indorsing  his  note."  Tlie  Government 
to  indorse  the  bonds  and  receive  three-fourths  of  the  stock,  thus  becom- 
ing the  controller  of  the  situation.  The  Government  was  to  appoint 
ten  of  the  fifteen  directors,  and  one  director  was  to  be  appointed  by 
Nicaragua  and  one  by  Costa  Eica;  the  third  would  be  elected  by  the 
outside  stockholders.  Substantially,  that  kind  of  a  bill  was  reported, 
the  exact  terms  of  which  I  do  not  now  recall. 

Time  went  on,  and  last  winter  this  same  bill  was  reported  by  Senator 
Morgan,  with  some  changes,  and  it  finally  passed  the  Senate.  The  com- 
pany was  not  entirely  satisfied  with  its  terms,  because  it  gave  the 
company  no  power  whatever  in  deciding  how  much  money  had  been 
expended  by  the  company,  and  whether  tlie  expenditures  were  just  and 
right.  It  provided  that  the  Secretary  of  State  and  the  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury  should  be  the  absolute  judges  as  to  the  amount  expended 
by  the  comi^any.  We  thought  it  ought  to  have  been  decided  by  a  com- 
mission, of  which  the  company  should  appoint  one  and  the  Government 
appoint  one,  and  they,  failing  to  agree  upon  any  matter,  should  appoint 
the  third,  and  then  their  decision  was  to  be  final.  The  amount  of  stock 
set  apart  for  us  was  less  than  we  thought  was  just,  but  we  made  no 
special  complaint,  and  I  presume  that  if  the  bill  had  been  passed  and 
become  a  law  the  stockholders  would  have  surrendered  their  rights 
and  would  have  given  the  Government  the  entire  control.  ]\[y  belief 
as  an  officer  of  the  corporation  was  briefly  this:  The  Government  to 
guarantee  the  bonds  at  3  per  cent  for  the  building  of  the  canal,  and 
the  revenues  of  the  canal  were  to  be  set  a])art  first — supposing  the 
canal  to  cost,  in  round  figirres,  a  hundred  million  dollars — three 
millions  to  pay  interest 

Mr.  Patterson.  What  is  the  amount  of  the  capitalization,  $100,- 
000,000? 

Mr.  Miller.  Yes,  sir;  the  capital  was  not  to  be  disposed  of.  About 
$1,000,000  was  estimated  as  the  probable  cost  of  maintaining  and 
improving  the  canal,  which  was  about  the  cost  of  maintaining  the 
Suez  Canal,  and  $1,000,000  was  to  be  put  into  a  sinking  fund,  so"  that 
in  sixty  years  the  sinking  fund  would  have  entirely  paid  oft' the  bonded 
debt.  The  Government  would  never  have  advanced  a  cent,  and  would 
be  the  owner  of  $70,000,000  or  $80,000,000  of  the  $100,000,000  of  capi- 
talization. 

We  neither  sought  nor  opposed  the  passage  of  that  bill.  We  have 
refused  to  have  anything  to  do  with  the  passage  of  any  legislation. 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  9 

This  is  tlie  first  time  in  five  years  that  I  have  ever  appeared  before  a 
House  committee,  or  moutioued  the  matter  even  to  the  JNIember  of  the 
House  from  my  own  district.  Mr.  Sherman,  the  Meuiber  from  my  dis- 
trict, can  tell  you  that  I  never  i)resented  the  matter  to  him  in  any  shape 
whatever.  I  said  to  Mr.  Sherman  that  I  would  not  come  before  your 
committee  unless  I  was  requested  to  do  so.  We  have  never  asked  for 
a  hearing",  and  under  no  circumstances  will  we  come  here  to  ask  any- 
thing-. If,  following  out  the  suggestions  of  Senator  Morgan  and 
Senator  Edmunds,  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  sees  fit  to  pass  a 
measure  which  is  just  and  fair  to  us,  undoubtedly  the  stockholders,  who 
are  nearly  all  Americans,  will  accept  that  decision  and  turn  over  the 
control  of  this  great  enterprise  to  the  Government. 

Mr.  Sherman.  You  might  say  further,  that  you  declined  even  to 
express  an  opinion  to  me  of  your  iireference  as  between  three  bills 
which  I  handed  you. 

Mr.  MiLLEK.  Not  only  that,  but  I  have  not  read  them.  In  fact,  I 
declined  to  read  them.  We  have  felt  that  if  the  people  of  the  United 
States  thought  that  this  enterprise  ought  to  be  an  American  enterprise, 
we  as  American  citizens  would  not  stand  in  the  way  of  it,  no  matter 
what  our  i)rospeetive  prohts  in  such  enterprise  might  be.  It  is  now  five 
years  since  the  Government  first  took  it  up,  and  we  have  felt  for  .sev- 
eral years  that  we  had  a  cause  of  grievance  against  the  Government  in 
this  matter,  for,  since  it  became  known  tliat  the  Senate  was  considering- 
it,  and  had  reported  a  bill,  it  became  substantially  impossible  to  get 
any  money  anywhere. 

The  American  people  had  said  Congress  ought  to  do  this,  so  that  it 
can  control  tolls  and  run  the  canal  for  the  benefit  of  the  people. 

Foreign  bankers  have  said:  ^' We  can  not  take  this  up  now,  because 
by  the  time  we  have  raised  and  expended  several  millions  on  it  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  will  step  in  and  take  it  away  from 
us,  and  we  shall  get  nothing  but  our  cash  in  return.  In  other  words, 
our  profits  will  never  be  realized,  and  therefore  we  will  not  touch  it 
until  the  Government  of  the  United  States  has  decided  what  it  will 
do."  We  have  been  in  this  condition  that  during  all  these  years  it  has 
been  impossible  to  raise  money,  except  from  the  original  subscribers. 
Now,  these  men  who  have  furnished  money  and  have  been  assessing 
themselves  to  keep  up  the  property,  keep  n\)  an  office,  and  all  the  nec- 
essary expenses  connected  with  an  enterprise  like  this,  could  not  abandon 
it  entirely.  The  result  has  been  that  the  old  subscribers  have  been 
compelled  to  add  to  their  subscriptions.  When  the  company  was  reor- 
ganized every  one  of  the  old  stockholders  who  were  able  remained  and 
paid  their  assessments  of  $3.50  i)er  share. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  What  is  your  belief  relative  to  the  ability  of  the 
company  to  raise  money,  if  the  Government  had  not  interfered  or  had 
not  taken  the  matter  up  ? 

Mr.  Miller.  I  have  not  any  doubt  that,  if  there  had  not  been  any 
interference  on  the  part  of  Congress,  we  could  have  raised  the  money. 
I  was  appealing  to  the  American  people,  and  received  everywhere  cor- 
dial support  until  this  matter  was  introduced  into  Congress;  then  I 
was  met  everywhere  with  the  proposition  that  it  ought  to  be  a  Govern- 
ment matter,  and  I  found  that  private  individuals  would  not  take  it  up. 
Since  1893  the  financial  situation  has  been  bad,  and  it  has  been  difficult 
to  obtain  money.  The  company  would  have  been  justified  in  ofteriug 
bonds  at  low  prices,  which  would  have  appealed  to  the  speculative 
spirit  of  the  American  people  and  foreigners.  I  have  no  doubt  that 
ftince  1893  we  would  have  been  able  to  get  $25,000,000. 


10  NICARAGUA   CANAL. 

Mr.  PATTERSON.  I  tliink  you  correctly  reflect  the  opinion  of  the 
United  States  wlien  you  say  the  people  de^sire  the  Government  to  own 
and  control  this  canal;  but  the  one  question  in  the  minds  of  some  of 
us  is  as  to  the  practicability  of  constructing  the  canal  within  reasona- 
ble limitations  of  cost. 

Mr.  Miller.  That  I  am  coming-  to,  with  the  permission  of  the  com- 
mittee. I  want  to  have  the  position  of  the  company  in  regard  to  this 
fully  understood.  It  is  constantly  being  misrepresented  by  its  oppo- 
nents, and  also  by  people  w^ho  are  not  familiar  with  the  facts,  and  therefore 
1  desire  to  put  before  the  committee  the  exact  conditions  existing  from 
the  beginning  down  to  the  present  time.  Last  winter  a  bill  passed  the 
Senate.  There  was  not  time  to  get  it  up  in  the  House,  owing  to  the  fact 
that  the  4th  of  ]\[arch  was  near;  but  there  was  placed  upon  one  of  the 
appropriation  bills  $20,000,  to  be  expended  by  a  United  States  Com- 
mission to  be  appointed  by  the  President  to  be  sent  to  Nicaragua  for 
the  purpose  of  making  an  investigation  and  report.  That  appropria- 
tion was  passed,  a  Commission  was  appointed,  and  they  made  a  report 
to  the  President,  which  was  finally  transmitted  to  Congress.  The  object 
of  the  appointment  of  this  Commission,  of  course,  was  well  understood; 
that  it  was  to  gain  time  and  delay.  The  friends  of  the  enterprise  in 
the  Senate  and  House,  as  1  understand  it,  accepted  this  appropriation 
in  good  faith  as  the  only  thing  that  could  be  done.  No  one  connected 
with  the  company  had  anything  to  say  about  it. 

Immediately  after  it  became  a  law,  I  called  the  directors  of  the  com- 
pany together,  and  we  voted  to  spend  whatever  money  was  necessary 
to  put  the  line  in  condition,  so  that  it  could  be  seen  by  the  commis- 
sioners. The  appropriation  of  $20,000  made  by  the  Government  for 
three  commissioners,  after  ]iaying  their  salaries,  left  very  little  for  the 
necessary  work  of  investigation,  and  had  not  the  company  come  to  the 
aid  of  the  commission  by  expending  its  own  moneys  the  investigation 
would  have  been  impossible.  The  company  expended  for  this  purpose 
in  opening  up  the  line  and  rebuilding  camps  for  taking  care  of  the 
commissioners  and  the  service  of  the  men  nearly  as  much  as  the  Gov- 
ernment had  appropriated;  and  tlie  company  turned  over  to  the  com- 
mission, when  it  sat  in  New  York,  all  its  notes  and  surveys,  which  had 
cost  nearly  $500,000.  Those  were  put  into  the  hands  of  the  commission 
unreservedly. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Who  were  the  Commissioners'? 

Mr.  Miller.  Major  Ludlow,  Mr.  Endicott,  and  Mr.  Noble,  a  civil 
engineer  from  Chicago.  The  impression  has  gone  out  that  the  rejiort 
was  adverse  to  the  canal,  but  a  careful  reading  will  show  that  the 
report  is  not  adverse.  It  makes  many  recommendations  in  regard  to 
changes  in  the  proposed  line  and  in  the  works.  It  calls  in  question 
the  wisdom  of  some  of  the  plans  made  by  the  company  and  recom- 
mends changes  which  would  largely  increase  the  cost  of  the  canal;  and 
after  making  a  detailed  estimate  of  the  cost,  it  says  that  it  lacks  suth- 
cient  data  by  which  to  make  a  proper  estimate.  It  finds,  however,  as 
w\as  found  by  several  engineers  tliroughout  the  world,  both  great  and 
small,  who  have  examined  it,  that  the  i)lan  is  entirely  feasible;  that  the 
canal  can  be  built,  and  I  may  a(hl  that  it  is,  in  the  judgment  of  all  the 
best  engineers  who  have  examined  the  matter  thoroughlj^,  the  only 
possible  route  across  the  isthmus  which  can  be  constructed  at  a  reason- 
able cost.     This  Commission  ])la('es  the  cost  at  $l.'53,001),0l)0. 

Now,  I  want  to  call  your  attention  to  some  of  the  statements  of  this 
Commission.  I  do  not  Avant  to  weary  you,  or  take  your  time  by  going 
into  a  detailed  examination  from  a  technical  or  engineering  standpoint. 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  11 

because  Mr.  Menocal,  the  engineer  of  the  company,  who  has  made  three 
surveys,  two  of  them  for  the  Government,  and  who  has  spent  many 
years  in  examining  this  route,  is  perfectly  able  to  defend  his  surveys 
and  estimates.  Having  the  report  of  the  Commission  before  him  he 
has  prepared  and  submitted  for  your  use  an  ehiborate  discussion  of 
this  question  from  every  standpoint,  and  as  president  I  am  perfectly 
willing  to  stand  upon  that  argument  before  the  best  engineers  in  the 
world. 

When  in  London  our  plans  were  submitted  to  Sir  John  Good,  who 
was  the  leading  engineer  of  England  and  who  planned  and  executed 
many  important  harbor  works  for  tlie  English  Government.  He  studied 
the  plans  for  several  weeks,  until  he  was  thoroughly  ftimiliar  with  them. 
He  said  that  they  were  practicable,  and  the  only  change  he  recom- 
mended was  that  the  cut  through  the  great  rock  divide  should  be 
Increased  from  80  to  100  feet  in  width,  but  that  the  harbors  at  Grey- 
town  and  Brito  were  correct  in  plan,  and  if  carried  out  would  furnish 
two  great  safe  harbors  for  this  canal.  I  simply  mention  that  because 
we  have  to  rely  upon  the  testimony  of  engineers,  and  w^e  have  in  Sir 
John  Good  a  man  whose  opinion  is  worth  much  in  a  great  work  like 
this,  and  it  is  proi)er  and  just  that  I  should  refer  to  him. 

Four  years  ago  when  I  went  to  Nicaragua  I  spent  more  time  in 
examining  the  line  than  this  Gommission  spent,  for  they  only  spent 
fourteen  days  on  the  line  of  the  canal,  and  there  are  parts  of  it  they 
never  saw.  When  I  went  over  the  line,  1  took  with  me  Mr.  Donaldson, 
one'  of  the  principal  engineers  of  the  Manchester  ship  canal,  now  chief 
engineer  of  the  London  docks. 

He  made  a  thorough,  careful,  and  elaborate  study  of  the  canal  and 
the  plans  of  our  company,  and  reported  to  his  i)rincipals,  Messrs. 
Walker  &  Go.,  contractors,  that  the  canal  was  feasible,  and  that  the 
cost  of  the  canal  w^oald  be  less  than  $100,000,000. 

Mr.  Bartlett.  In  the  report  of  the  Government  Gommission  I  think 
it  is  -stated  that  there  is  no  precedent  for  the  construction  of  a  dam 
such  as  the  Ochoa  dam. 

Mr.  Miller.  I  will  come  to  that.  If  this  Commission  had  had  a  little 
experience  in  such  matters  it  would  have  known  better.  I  understand 
that  the  chief  has  been  sent  abroad  to  examine  similar  works.  I  think 
if  the  Government  had  sent  him  abroad  before  he  made  his  investiga- 
tions in  Nicaragua  he  would  have  been  better  able  to  have  spoken  in 
regard  to  it. 

The  report  of  the  Gommission  begins  and  ends  by  criticising  the  plans 
of  the  engineer,  but  the  Commission  is  compelled  substantially  to  admit 
that  finally  the  work  as  planned  can  be  done.  The  first  proposition 
they  make  is  that  the  entrance  to  Greytown  Harbor  shall  be  moved 
about  a  mile  and  a  half  to  the  east.  The  reason  given  for  it  is  of  no 
value  whatever.  The  entrance  as  laid  down  by  the  company  is  the 
original  entrance  where,  in  1819  and  1850,  during  the  California  gold 
excitement,  vessels  went  in  with  over  20  feet  of  water.  It  was  an  open 
harbor  for  many  years,  but  finally  a  bar  was  formed.  The  company 
naturally  supposed  that  a  good  place  to  make  an  entrance  to  a  harbor 
would  be  where  one  existed  many  years  before,  and  they  adopted  this 
place,  but  only  extended  the  pier  out  1,000  feet  and  got  11  feet  of  water. 
It  can  be  maintained  at  little  cost.  If  we  had  had  money  we  would 
have  completed  the  pier  0,000  feet,  where  we  could  have  obtained  30 
feet  of  water  without  difficulty,  and  it  would  have  been  maintained  at 
less  cost  than  the  cost  of  maintaining  the  entrance  to  the  Suez  Canal. 

Mr.  Patterson.  How  did  you  construct  that  picrl 


12  NICARAGUA   CANAL. 

Mr.  MiLLEE.  It  was  constructed  by  putting  down  piles  in  rows.  We 
nuide  it  10  feet  wide  and  filled  it  in  with  stone  and  concrete.  Since 
the  work  was  commenced  on  that  point  the  whole  engineering  world 
has  come  to  adopt  a  clieaper  method  of  building.  The  great  break- 
water on  the  Columbia  liiver  was  constructed  by  driving  piles  the  whole 
length  of  the  proposed  pier  and  putting  a  railroad  on  the  top,  by  which 
the*^A^ork  was  carried  out  and  placed  the  entire  length  of  the  pier,  consti- 
tuting what  is  known  as  riprap  or  a  loose  wall  i)rojecting  out  so  that 
the  force  of  the  waves  is  destroyed.  The  reason  the  waves  do  not  do 
any  harm  is  that  there  is  a  gradual  slope,  and  the  force  of  the  waves 
is  broken  and  no  harm  is  done  the  main  work.  It  is  upon  that  plan 
that  the  great  breakwaters  are  now  built. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Are  these  wooden  piles  not  subject  to  being  spoiled 
by  the  toredo? 

Mr.  Miller.  They  would  be  in  time;  but  they  are  only  a  temporary 
structure.  I  found  them  in  Amsterdam  on  my  visit  to  Holland.  They 
have  built  piers  there  on  the  plan  of  the  Eades  jetties  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Mississippi  Eiver.  They  are  breakwaters  built  with  perpendicular 
sides,  with  artificial  stone  blocks  packed  with  loose  rock.  The  result 
of  that  kind  of  structure  is  that  the  waves  come  in  and  beat  against 
this  work  without  doing  any  harm.  Our  work  was  built  by  driving 
piles  and  putting  a  railroad  track  upon  it,  and  bringing  rock  and 
dumping  it  into  the  ocean,  making  a  pier  which  the  waves  could  not 
destroy. 
Mr.  Patterson.  And  the  rock  excavated  is  used  for  that  purpose? 
Mr.  Miller.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Patterson.  What  is  now  the  condition  of  the  canal,  as  far  as 
you  have  constructed  it  out  from  Greytown  through  the  alluvial  soil? 
Mr.  Miller.  The  Commission  reports  that  the  banks  stand  peri^en- 
dicularly,  just  as  they  were  built  five  years  ago.  There  has  been  no 
change.  The  damage  there  is  much  less  than  it  is  in  a  northern  coun- 
try on  account  of  the  climate,  there  being  no  frost.  It  stands  in  perfect 
repair. 

In  reference  to  the  entrance  to  the  harbor  being  moved  a  mile  and 
a  half  east,  I  would  say  that,  in  the  first  place,  we  could  not  go  there, 
because  the  Nicaraguan  Government  would  not  allow  us  to  go  there. 
If  we  went  there  we  would  be  in  Costa  Ilican  territory,  and  our  con- 
cession demands  that  the  canal  shall  begin  and  end  in  ±>ficaraguan  ter- 
ritory. The  line  dividing  the  two  territories  is  a  short  distance  to  the 
east  of  the  entrance  ot  the  harbor.  It  was  natural  to  suppose  that 
we  would  go  where  the  work  would  be  done  the  easiest  and  cheapest, 
and  investigation  will  show  that  it  would  have  cost  6)1,000,000  more  to 
build  it  where  the  Commission  suggests  than  where  it  is  built. 

Mr.  Patterson.  What  is  the  estimated  cost  of  improving  Greytown 
Harbor? 

Mr.  Miller.  We  will  furnish  that  to  you.  It  is  in  the  engineer's  esti- 
mates. The  line  starting  from  Greytown  Harbor  for  10  miles  to  the  foot- 
hills runs  across  low  ground  or  lagoons.  The  Commissi(m  recommends 
a  change  of  the  line  a  little  farther  to  the  south  or  east.  No  good 
reason  is  given  for  it.  The  comY)any  spent  months  and  months  survey- 
ing that  i)ortion  of  the  line  in  order  to  get  tiie  best  location.  We  have 
run  over  4,000  miles  of  line  by  the  theodolite.  We  think  we  know 
quite  as  well  as  the  Commission  the  scope  of  that  country.  If  we 
change  the  line  south,  the  river  would  have  to  be  changed.  The  line 
has  been  kept  in  the  present  direction  so  as  to  avoid  the  river.  This 
Commission  suggests  a  change,  but  makes  no  provision  for  changing 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  13 

the  river.  Mr.  Menocal's  argument  will  show  conclusively  the  condi- 
tion in  that  respect. 

We  next  come  to  the  question  of  locks.  They  admit  that  the  locks 
are  all  right.  They  say  that  the  lift  can  be  made  without  doubt.  They 
suggest,  however,  four  locks  instead  of  three.  The  object  of  this  is  not 
stated.  Of  course  it  would  increase  the  cost  and  the  length  of  time  it 
would  take  for  a  ship  to  go  through  the  canal.  There  can  be  no  good 
reason  for  it.  Instead  of  diminishing  the  lifts,  it  is  quite  possible  that 
those  lifts  might  be  done  in  two  instead  of  three.  With  hydraulic 
machinery  in  France  they  lift  more  than  50  feet  in  a  single  lift. 

In  short,  there  is  not  a  single  recommendation  of  the  Commission 
which  is  not  in  the  direction  of  increased  cost.  It  would  also  increase 
the  time  which  would  be  taken  to  build  the  canal.  It  Avould  seem  that 
they  supposed  they  were  rej)resenting  a  Government  work  in  which  the 
amount  of  monej'  was  unlimited,  and  the  question  of  cost  had  nothing- 
to  do  with  it.  This  company  started  out  to  build  an  available  canal 
which  would  accommodate  the  commerce,  and  do  it  at  the  least  possible 
cost.  That  has  been  the  plan  upon  which  railroads  and  canals  have 
been  built.  The  Suez  Canal,  the  great  prototype  of  all  canals,  was  built 
first  to  a  depth  of  26  feet,  and  was  so  narrow  that  vessels  could  not 
pass,  and  every  4  or  5  miles  turnouts  were  made,  so  that  vessels  could 
pass;  but  now  they,  having  made  a  great  success  of  the  canal,  are 
deepening  it  to  30  feet  and  increasing  it  to  the  width  of  the  proposed 
Nicaraguan  Canal. 

Our  canal  was  laid  out  with  a  width  of  125  feet  on  the  bottom.  The 
Commission  i^ropose  to  reduce  it  to  a  width  of  80  feet  for  the  first  10 
miles  from  Greytown  and  make  turn-outs,  which  would  cost  as  much  as 
the  plan  of  the  company  would,  and  it  would  be  impossible  for  vessels 
to  pass.  The  only  possible  reason  Ave  can  think  of  for  their  making 
these  reconmiendations  is  that  they  did  not  want  to  approve  anything 
that  the  engineer  of  the  company  had  done.  They  changed  the  canal 
from  125  feet  at  the  bottom  for  the  first  10  miles,  and  farther  up  they 
propose  different  widths  wp  to  300  feet,  simply,  I  sux)pose,  because  the 
engineers  of  the  company  had  decided  upon  the  other  widths. 

We  then  come  to  the  divide.  With  that  they  find  no  fault,  exceiJt  to 
say  that  we  have  not  made  borings.  They  claim  we  ought  to  have 
made  more  borings,  so  as  to  be  sure  of  it. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Did  you  find  the  same  material  in  your  borings? 

Mr.  Miller.  Yes,  sir.  There  is  no  tendency  of  the  rock  to  slide  or 
disintegrate.  The  indications  of  centuries  show  the  character  of  the 
rock  to  be  absolutely  fixed. 

Mr.  Patterson.  It  is  of  uniform  formation? 

Mr.  Miller.  Yes,  sir.  We  have  been  able  to  show  exactly  what  the 
rock  is.  Between  this  and  the  divide  at  Ochoa  comes  in  the  dam  where 
embankments  have  to  be  built.  They  find  the  embankments  can  be 
built.  The  only  serious  thing  which  the  Commissioners  say  about  it  is, 
that  in  case  of  war  somebody  might  destroy  it  with  dynamite.  I  sup- 
pose that  is  true.  I  suppose,  too,  that  somebody  might  blow  up  this 
Capitol. 

Mr.  Patterson.  You  have  two  locks  between  Greytown  and  the 
Ochoa  dam  ? 

Mr.  Miller.  We  have  three  locks  on  each  side,  making  the  rise  110 
feet.  There  are  six  locks  in  all;  but  the  Commissioners  recommend 
eight  in  all.  We  now  come  to  Ochoa  dam.  This  is  the  key  of  the 
whole  plan.  Ochoa  dam  is  some  50  to  60  miles  down  the  river  and  20 
to  40  miles  from  Greytown,  direct  across,  as  the  canal  goes. 


14  NICARAGUA   CANAL. 

Mr.  Patterson  About  wbat  is  tlie  size  of  the  San  Juan  Eiver  and 
its  tiow? 

Mr.  :\riLLER.  San  Juan  Eiver  is  a  large  navigable  stream;  is  from 
40  to  100  feet  deep;  it  is  500  to  1,500  feet  wide. 

]Mr.  Patterson.  It  Las  about  as  much  flow  of  water  as  the  Ohio 
above  Cincinnati? 

Mr.  MiLLiCK.  I  am  not  familiar  with  that;  but  the  proposition  is  to 
build  a  dam  05  feet  in  height.  That  raises  the  water  of  the  San  Juan 
Eiver  to  the  level  of  the  hike.  Much  of  the  low  land  will  be  Hooded 
back  to  the  foothills,  so  that  a  large  part  of  this  will  be  an  addition  to 
the  lake.  That  makes  a  greater  reservoir  for  holding  the  Hoods  of  the 
country.  At  the  point  where  the  dam  is  to  be  located  there  is  no  rock 
bottom  to  be  found  within  any  reasonable  distance  to  which  the  masonry 
could  go  down.  As  a  result  of  that,  it  became  necessary  to  find  some 
other  way  to  build  the  dam  and  rest  it  upon  clay  bottom,  so  as  to  make 
it  permanent  and  safe.  This  plan  of  the  company,  after  being  argued 
for  a  long  time  by  the  Commission,  is  finally  held  to  be  practicable  by 
some  changes  being  made  in  its  construction.  That  dam  is  simply  a 
rock-tilled  dam.  The  rock  is  to  be  taken  out  of  a  cut  and  by  railroad 
to  be  carried  to  the  Ochoa  dam  and  damped  into  the  river.  It  is  built 
upon  the  same  plan  as  piers  or  bulkheads,,  of  loose  stone  weighing 
from  5  to  10  tons.  It  will  spread  out,  being  500  feet  on  the  bottom  and 
brought  up  to  a  crown  on  the  top,  and  its  weight  will  be  many  times 
greater  than  the  weight  of  the  water  which  will  come  against  it;  conse- 
quently it  will  not  be  moved  by  the  water.  It  will  be  made  tight  by 
depositing  gravel  and  clay  on  the  upside.  There  are  a  large  number  ot 
great  dams  in  India  which  are  four  to  six  times  as  long  as  that,  but  not 
as  high.  They  are  built  in  the  same  manner,  with  loose  stone  and  filled 
in  with  clay  material,  which  makes  them  tight. 

This  matter  of  the  dam  is  gone  through  in  several  pages  of  the  report- 
and  finally  the  Commissioners  say  that  modern  engineering  can  do  any, 
thing  necessary,  but  that  the  abutment  ought  to  be  made  stronger;  and 
they  suggest  that  the  top  construction  be  carried  on  after  the  water  is 
turned  out  through  the  San  Carlos  Eiver.  This  river  is  in  Costa  Eican 
territory,  and  on" the  eastern  side  of  the  river  there  are  low  ridges  of 
rock  which  can  be  used  as  wasteweirs  for  the  canal.  They  suggest  that 
wasteweirs  be  make  sufficient  so  that  the  river  can  flow  over  them,  and 
that  this  dam  be  constructed  dry.  I  have  all  my  life,  as  a  manufac- 
turer, been  building  dams  and  hydraulic  works,  and  therefore  have 
some  practical  knowledge  of  works  of  this  kind.  This  committee  can 
see  instantly  the  folly  of  such  construction.  Suppose  you  turn  the 
water  out  through  San  Carlos  Eiver  and  build  the  dam  dry,  as  proposed, 
and  then  turn  the  Avater  back  on  the  completed  dam.  There  will  be  a 
great  deal  of  settling  of  the  stones,  undoubtedly  the  dam  would  settle 
many  feet,  and  it  might  be  greatly  injured;  but  if  built  when  the  water 
is  on  it,  no  settling  is  possible  after  com])letion. 

Mr.  Baktlett.  What  is  the  cost  of  this  four  miles  of  construction? 

Mr.  Miller.  We  say  that  it  will  cost  less  than  half  what  their  esti- 
mate is. 

Mr.  Bartlett.  Suppose  the  dam  gives  away,  would  it  destroy  the 
canal? 

Mr.  Miller.  Ko,  sir.  The  water  would  go  down  the  original  chan- 
nel of  the  San  Juan  and  the  canal  would  be  left  dry  and  uninjured. 

Mr.  Bartlett.  The  Eaihoad  News  had  an  article  in  which  this 
seemed  to  be  regarded  as  an  objection,  and  it  intimated  that  the  dam 
would  be  taken  away. 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  15 

Mr.  Miller.  There  is  not  a  particle  of  danger  in  that  case.  Out  of 
great  precaution,  if  you  want  to  make  it  absolutely  certain  that  noth- 
ing can  ever  harm  the  dam,  you  have  simply  to  build  it  8  or  10  feet 
higher  than  proposed,  so  that  the  water  can  not  pass  over  it — taking 
the  water  over  the  waste  weirs,  to  be  made  along  the  San  Carlos  River. 

Mr.  Bartlett.  Some  years  ago  there  was  published  in  the  American 
Law  Review  an  article  on  the  legal  aspects  in  regard  to  the  proposition 
contained  in  the  original  bill.  It  was  intimated  that  after  the  bonds 
were  paid  oft"  the  Government  would  be  no  longer  interested,  because 
she  would  be  entitled  to  none  of  the  stock,  and  the  stock  would  fall 
back  into  the  hands  from  whence  it  came. 

Mr.  Miller.  That  remark  was  made  iu  reference  to  tlie  first  bill. 
According  to  the  bill  which  passed  the  Senate,  the  Government  was  to 
take  the  company  and  have  ten  directors  out  of  the  fifteen,  and  was  to 
guarantee  the  bonds  and  take  from  $70,000,000  to  $80,000,000  worth  of 
the  stock.  The  Government  would  have  three-fourths  of  the  stock  of 
the  company;   consequently  own  and  control  the  canal. 

Mr.  Patterson.  The  first  proposition  contemi^lated  the  Government 
indorsing  the  bonds,  and  placing  the  stock  in  the  hands  of  the  Govern- 
ment as  collateral  security;  now  the  plan  is  for  the  Government  to 
become  absolute  owner  of  the  canal. 

Mr.  Sherman.  If  the  canal  prove  a  success  it  would  be  the  best 
investment  the  Government  ever  made. 

T]^ereuj)on  the  committee  took  a  recess  until  2  p.  m. 

AFTERNOON  SESSION. 

STATEMENT  OF  HON.  WARNER  MILLER— Continued. 

The  Chairman  (to  Mr.  Miller).  If  it  pleases  you  to  go  on,  anticipat- 
ing the  arrival  of  the  balance  of  the  committee,  it  will  suit  those  of  us 
who  are  here,  but  it  is  just  as  you  i^lease. 

Mr.  Miller.  I  will  be  glad  to  do  whatever  you  desire. 

Mr.  Patterson.  I  will  say  I  will  have  to  leave  here  by  half  past  3 
at  any  rate,  and  I  would  like  for  the  Senator  to  proceed. 

Mr.  Miller.  I  do  not  recollect  my  last  statement  to  the  committee, 
and,  as  the  stenographer  of  the  morning  is  not  here,  I  am  not  able, 
perhaps,  to  commence  exactly  at  the  i^oint  I  left  off;  still,  I  had  sub- 
stantially finished  the  discussion  of  the  Ochoa  dam.  I  will  simply  say 
in  regard  to  that  one  thing  more.  Of  course  the  Ochoa  dam  has  to  be 
built  upon  a  sand  bottom.  The  question  as  to  whether  that  is  sufdcient 
or  not  is  not  a  question  of  theory  but  settled  by  any  quantity  of  great 
public  works  all  over  the  world.  The  president  of  the  Illinois  Central 
Railroad  told  me  yesterday  nearly  all  of  the  great  bridges  upon  the 
line  of  his  road  and  many  of  those  across  the  Mississippi  River  rested 
entirely  upon  a  sand  bottom  where  the  superstructure  was  very  heavy 
and  the  piers  built  of  cut  stone  and  weighing  many  hundreds  and 
thousands  of  tons.  The  shij)  canal  of  Amsterdam  in  Holland — all  of  its 
superstructure  rests  upon  sand.  When  I  was  visiting  there  they  were 
then  constructing  a  new  lock  much  larger  than  the  old  lock,  a  lock 
about  the  size  proposed  in  this  canal,  and  I  saw  its  foundation,  which 
rests  entirely  upon  sand.  It  is  unnecessary  to  repeat  illustrations 
regarding  the  fact  that  any  superstructure  of  any  weight  to-day  can 
be  built  resting  entirely  upon  sand. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Before  you  proceed  to  take  up  another  question, 
please  let  me  know  how  far  it  is  from  Greytown  to  the  foothills  by  way 
of  the  canal,  if  you  carry  it  in  your  memory. 


16  NICARAGUA   CANAL. 

Mr.  Miller.  Begmning  at  tlie  foothills— that  is  to  say,  where  they 
put  in  the  locks— to  here  "[illustrating  on  niapj  is  some  15  miles.  The 
whole  distance  up  to  Ochoa,  as  we  reckon  it,  is  about  ol  miles,  oi  a 
trifle  over. 

Mr.  Patterson.  From  Grey  town? 

Mr.  Miller.  Yes. 

The  next  point  of  criticism  of  the  Commission  is  confined  to  the  river 
from  Ochoa  to  the  lake,  a  distance  of,  I  think,  56  miles,  if  I  now  recollect 
correctly.  Much  of  that  way  the  river  is  deep  enough  and  wide  enough 
for  the  largest  vessels.  There  are  three  rapids,  however,  which  are 
now  navigable  and  over  which  small  vessels  pass.  These  rapids  will 
have  to  be  takeu  out.  The  dam  at  Ochoa,  as  I  said,  elevates  the 
water  of  the  San  Juan  Eiver  from  this  point  to  the  lake,  and  brings  it 
to  the  same  level  as  the  lake,  so  that  it  has  free  navigation  from  Ochoa 
to  the  lake  and  across  the  lake,  and  so  on  to  the  Pacific.  In  the  parts 
of  the  river  where  we  have  to  make  excavations  through  rock  or  soil, 
the  com[)any  had  estimated  for  the  bottom  of  the  canal  a  width  of  125 
feet.  That  is  the  width  of  the  Manchester  Shii>  Canal  and  a  little  more 
than  that  of  the  Kiel  Canal,  and  very  much  wider  than  the  Suez  Canal 
as  finished.  The  Commission  recommend  that  it  be  increased  to  250 
feet,  or  doubled;  for  what  reason  I  do  not  know. 

As  I  told  you  at  the  beginning,  they  had  recommended  that  the  first 
10  miles  through  the  lagoon  be  reduced  from  125  feet  to  100  feet,  but 
when  they  come  to  the  river  they  recommend  an  increase  of  from  125 
feet  to  250  feet.  When  we  come  to  the  lake  here,  there  is  a  deposit  of 
mud  extending  out  for  14  miles,  more  or  less,  on  which  a  large  amount  of 
dredging  will  have  to  be  done.  There  the  company  has  made  the  bot- 
tom of  the  canal  150  feet  wide,  and  there  the  commission  recommend 
that  it  be  made  300  feet.  The  only  object  of  that  can  be,  of  course,  to 
increase  the  cost  of  the  work.  The  width  of  125  feet  is  sufficient  for 
any  vessel  to  navigate  and  it  is  sufficient  for  vessels  to  pass,  and  150 
feet  in  the  lake  is  ample  there.  We  might  say  it  would  be  better  to 
have  it  500  or  1,000  feet  wide  or  any  width,  but  the  company  proposes 
to  build  a  commercial  canal  to  meet  the  wants  of  commerce  and  to  build 
it  at  the  least  possible  expense,  and  we  simply  submit  that  a  width 
which  is  greater  than  that  of  the  Suez  Canal  and  equal  to  that  of  the 
Manchester  Canal  or  any  ship  canal  in  the  worki,  ought  to  be  wide 
enough  for  this,  and  it  is  simply  a  wanton  waste  of  money  and  largely 
increasing  the  cost  of  this  canal  to  add  to  its  width. 

There  is  no  difficulty  whatever  in  marking  this  channel  perfectly  so 
that  vessels  can  not  by  any  possibility  get  out  of  it.  If  any  of  you 
have  been  down  at  Morgan  City,  on  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  you  have  seen  a 
channel  several  miles  long  running  through  a  great  waste  of  mud  and 
shoal  water  in  which  the  channel  is  very  narrow^,  and  not  as  wide  as 
this,  w^here  it  is  thoroughly  marked,  say  every  100  feet,  by  poles  set  up, 
making  a  guide  for  ships  passing  out  and  in. 

Mr.  JJooLiTTLE.  May  I  ask  it  any  storms  of  any  consequence  visit 
this  portion  of  the  lake  which  would  make  a  wider  canal  necessary, 
and  if  there  are  any  heavy  winds  which  would  make  the  steering 
difficult? 

Mr.  Miller.  The  reports  of  captains  and  men  who  have  been  on  the 
lake  since  1810  say  that  there  will  be  no  difficulty  in  the  navigation  of 
a  channel  of  150  feet  wide,  if  it  is  thoroughly  marked.  The  cost  of  a 
work  of  this  kind  depends  upon  two  things  chiefly:  First,  the  quantity 
of  materials  pf  ^11  kinds  that  have  to  be  moved  j  and,  secondly,  the  cost 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  17 

of  labor,  wliicli  makes  tlie  unit  of  price.  This  Coniinission,  in  arrivmg 
at  an  estimate  of  cost  of  $133,000,000  for  this  work,  have  first,  as  I  have 
shown  you,  largely  increased  the  quantity  of  material  to  be  removed  by 
increasing'  the  width  from  125  feet  on  the  river  to  250  feet,  and  on  the 
lake  from  150  feet  to  300  feet.  They  have  then  increased  the  quantities 
in  other  directions,  but  they  arrived  at  the  cost  of  the  unit  of  removing 
this  material  by  taking  data  which  are  inadmissible,  and  most  of  which 
are  incorrect.  Their  price  was  the  price  prevailing  years  ago,  when  the 
cost  of  doing  this  kind  of  work  was  very  much  greater  than  now.  In 
fact,  the  estimate  of  the  company  was  made  niion  a  basis  of  cost  which 
does  not  prevail  anywhere  in  the  world  to-day;  that  ijs  to  say,  tlie  pres- 
ent cost  is  greatly  reduced.  For  instance,  we  have  estimated,  begin- 
ning at  Greytown,  the  cost  of  dredging  at  20  cents  a  yard  for  deepen- 
ing the  harbor  and  dredging  tlie  first  10  miles,  and  that  was  a  fair 
estimate  when  it  was  made,  with  the  machinery  then  in  existence,  by 
which  that  kind  of  work  was  done. 

The  machinery  which  we  bought  from  the  Panama  people  and  brought 
there  was  of  a  superior  kind  at  that  time,  and  the  result  was  that  the 
dredgiugwhichwedid  atGreytown — and  we  kept  a  perfect  and  accurate 
account  of  it,  and  I  have  here  a  transcript  from  our  books  showing  that 
at  the  beginning  of  the  canal  we  took  out  some  700,000  cubic  yards  at 
a  cost  of  only  11  cents  per  cubic  yard.  Of  course  we  did  it  under  adverse 
circumstances.  We  worked  the  ])Iant  only  10  hours  a  day  instead  of  24 
hours  a  day,  as  the  company  would  do  if  it  had  had  abundance  of  funds, 
but  we  did  it  at  11  cents  per  cubic  yard,  as  our  books  show,  while  our 
estimate  was  20  cents  yer  cubic  yard.  This  Commission  increases  it 
from  20  to  25  and  30  cents  per  cubic  yard.  IsTow,  what  are  the  facts 
to-day  ?  All  the  macliinery  down  there  now  can  be  discarded,  and  to  a 
great  profit,  because  machinery  to-day  for  dredging  is  much  more 
effective  than  that  was.  For  instance,  to-day  dredging  is  being  done 
at  Mobile  under  contract  at  7  cents  a  yard,  and  the  material  is  taken 
6  miles  to  sea.  It  is  being  done  under  a  contract  at  7  cents  a  yard, 
and  the  contractors  tell  me  they  are  entirely  satisfied  witli  tlieir  profit. 
We  had  ofl'eisfrom  dredging  companies  several  years  ago  ofi'eriug  to  do 
all  the  dredging  of  tliis  canal  at  our  estimated  i^rice,  but  this  Commis- 
sion, without  informing  itself  as- to  what  the  cost  of  this  kind  of  work 
throughout  the  world  is  to  day,  simply  increases  our  estimate  from  10 
to  25  per  cent. 

Our  rock  excavation  in  this  great  divide  here,  which  is  nearly  3  miles 
long,  and  which,  I  think,  calls  for  some  8,000,0iK)  cubic  yards  or  more 
rock  to  be  taken  out,  we  estimate  at  $1.50  a  cubic  yard,  and  then  we 
allow  for  transportation  to  Greytown  to  put  in  the  breakwater  and  also 
to  be  put  in  the  Oclioa  dam  50  cents  per  yard.  They  are  not  satisfied 
with  that,  but  they  largely  increase  that  nnit  of  price.  Now,  what  are 
the  facts  to-day?  If  this  committee  wants  to  know  what  rock  of  that 
kind  can  be  excavated  for,  let  me  ask  you  to  send  for  some  of  the  lead- 
ing contractors  who  are  now  doing  work  upon  the  drainage  canal  at 
Chicago.  I  visited  that  last  year  in  connection  with  the  contractors 
and  chief  engineers,  and  there  I  found  that  great  work  being  done 
under  contract,  and  the  highest  price  was  76  cents  a  yard,  and  tlie  con- 
tractors told  me  they  were  entirely  satisfied  with  the  profits  they  were 
making.  I  believe  it  is  entirely  possible  to-day  to  let  a  contract  for  all 
this  rock  excavation  for  less  than  $1  per  cubic  yard.    I  have  here  a 

N  c 2 


18  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

letter  from  Thomas  A.  Edison,  giving  what  it  cost  to  move  rock  to-day 
■with  the  improved  machinery  and  system  which  is  adopted: 

Orange,  N.  J.,  December  IS,  1895. 
Mr.  Horace  L.  Hotchkiss, 

35  Broad  Street,  New  York. 

My  Dear  Sir:  Replying  to  yours  of  the  17tli,  I  beg  to  say  that  at  our  works  at 
Edison,  N.  J.,  wc  mine  low-grade  iron  ore  (magnetic  oxide  and  feldspar). 

All  onr  work  is  in  an  open  cut,  and  over  the  cut  we  have  a  traveling  crane  200  feet 
span,  with  whicii  we  load  the  ore  into  the  iron  skips  or  boxes  (each  holds  about  .5 
tons)  and  also  place  the  loaded  skips  on  the  railroad  can,  which  deliver  the  ore  to 
our  crushing  plant,  an  average  distance  of  about  2,000  feet.  We  use  steam  drills  and 
blow  out  several  thousand  tons  at  each  blast,  and  try  to  get  the  pieces  out  as  large 
as  possible,  not  exceeding  5  tons,  as  with  onr  appliances  a  man  can  load  a  5-toii 
piece  as  quickly  as  one  500  pounds.  Our  cost  ]ier  ton  (2,240  pounds)  for  drilling, 
blasting,  loading  the  ore  into  the  skips  (by  hand,  as  at  the  time  this  cost  was  made 
our  loading  ajipiiauces  were  not  ready,  so  we  were  compelled  to  load  by  hand  labor), 
l)utting  the  skii)S  on  the  can,  and  delivering  the  can  at  the  crushing  pbmt,  on  1,154 
tons  per  day  of  ten  hours,  including  all  material,  labor,  coal,  repairs,  etc.,  was  l'J.71 
cents  [>er  ton. 

With  the  appliances  we  are  putting  on  the  crane  for  loading  the  ore  into  the  skips 
and  with  our  plant  full  capacity  (5,000  tons  per  twenty  hours),  we  fully  expect  to 
deliver  the  ore  at  crushing  plant  for  from  12  to  14  cents  per  ton,  and  probably  less. 
Yours,  very  truly, 

Thomas  A.  Edison,  President. 

P.  S. — Granite  as  per  sample  in  office  weighs  4,540  pounds  to  cubic  yard  ^2  tons 
60  i^onnds  per  yard. 

Mr.  Miller.  Now  that  converted  into  yards,  in  round  figures  two 
tons  would  equal  one  yard.  That  would  make  the  cost  of  taking  out 
the  rock  upon  this  plan  in  the  one  case  where  it  says  19.71  cents  per 
ton  or  40  cents  per  yard.  He  says,  "We  fully  expect  to  deliver  the  ore 
at  crushing  plant  for  from  12  to  14  cents  per  ton  and  probably  less,"  or 
from  24  to"28  cents  per  cubic  yard.  Now  those  are  actual  facts,  but 
this  Commission  disregarding  all  that  puts  the  cost  up  to  $1.75  per 
cubic  yard  and  then  adds  50  cents  for  quarrying  it  in  blocks  of  from  5 
to  10  tons,  which  would  be  large  enough  to  put  in  the  Ochoa  dam. 
Taking  these  figures  of  Mr.  Edison,  the  estimates  of  the  Commission 
are  from  three  to  five  times  the  actual  cost  to-day  of  doing  this  work. 

Now  as  to  the  cost  of  labor  down  there.  The  Commission  say  of 
course  in  that  climate  and  under  those  conditions  the  cost  of  labor  will 
be  much  greater  than  in  the  States.  Let  us  see.  We  have  si)ent 
$4,000,000  or  $5,000,000  there  chiefly  upon  labor  and  we  know  some- 
thing about  it.  We  had  at  one  time  2,000  men,  Jamaica  negroes,  and 
the  cost  I  have  here  exactly.  We  paid  colored  laborers  20  soles  per 
month  and  subsistence,  and  occasionally  we  paid  25  soles  and  subsis- 
tence. The  sole  is  the  money  of  Nicaragua,  a  silver  i)iece  equal  to  about 
an  American  silver  dollar. 

Mr.  Patterson.  You  mean  20  soles  per  month  ? 

Mr.  Miller.  Yes,  sir;  it  would  be  $20  in  silver  or  $10  in  gold  at  the 
present  time.  The  actual  cost  of  subsistence  was  11.50  soles;  that, 
added  to  the  other,  makes  31.50  soles  and  3G.50  soles  per  month,  or  in 
the  one  case  $15.25  in  gold  per  month  and  in  the  other  case  $18.25  in 
gold  per  month.  At  that  time  the  rate  of  exchange  and  value  of  silver 
made  the  sole  worth  about  72  cents.  Now  it  is  worth  50  or  less.  In 
other  words,  you  can  get  anywhere  from  10,000  to  20,000  laborers  of  the 
West  Indian  islands,  ayIio  are  perfectly  acclimated,  for  less  than  one-half 
you  pay  labor  in  this  conntry.  Now,  assuming  that  the  labor  there  is 
only  one-half  as  efiective  as  it  isliere — and  we  are  prepared  to  show  that 
it  is  m(n-e  than  that;  that  it  is  nearer  two-thirds  as  eftective  there  as  it 
is  here — it  brings  the  cost  of  labor  iu  Nicaragua  for  all  this  kind  of  work, 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  19 

common  labor,  to  substantially  tlie  same  basis  as  it  is  in  the  United 
States. 

All  these  statements  I  make  here  are  verified  from  the  experience  of 
this  company  and  from  their  books  and  accounts,  so  that  there  should 
be  no  addition  to  the  cost  of  that  kind  of  labor  because  of  the  climate, 
and  the  record  which  I  gave  you  this  morning  in  regard  to  working 
1,000  Jamaica  negroes  for  six  months  and  only  four  dying,  and  they 
were  worked  in  the  wet  season,  shows  it  is  not  in  the  common  accept- 
ance of  the  term  an  unhealthy  climate  in  which  to  do  work  for  that  kind 
of  laborers,  who  are  of  course  acclimated  and  are  accustomed  to  it. 
The  skilled  laborers,  the  engineers,  mechanics,  etc.,  of  course,  are  from 
the  United  States,  and  we  paid  them  no  more  than  they  received  here; 
but  if  the  work  was  going  on  with  a  large  number,  with  10,000  or 
20,000  men  there  at  once,  the  demand  for  skilled  labor  would  probably 
lead  to  a  demand  for  a  larger  compensation  than  received  in  the  United 
States,  but  the  bulk  of  the  labor  and  bulk  of  the  cost  is,  of  course,  the 
common  labor. 

The  company  have  estimated  the  cost  of  excavating  rock  under  water 
at  '$5  per  cubic  yard.  There  is  a  large  amount  of  rock  in  the  river  at 
the  three  rai)ids  of  which  I  have  spoken,  to  be  excavated.  It  has  all 
been  estimated  at  $5  per  cubic  yard.  We  submit  that  that  is  an  extrav- 
agant estimate.  The  Government  at  the  Saulte  and  the  channel  below 
it  is, doing  this  work  at  a  cost  of  not  more  than  one-half  of  that,  or 
substantially  $2.50  a  yard,  and  the  same  nmchinery  and  appliances  can 
be  used  at  Nicaragua  as  there  used  and  the  work  be  continued  the  whole 
year,  whereas  at  the  Saulte  they  have  to  suspend  entirelj^  during  the 
Avinter  season,  therefore  costing  more  than  it  would  otherwise. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Would  not  that  depend  somewhat  upon  the  char- 
acter of  the  rock? 

Mr.  Miller.  Yes;  quite  likely  it  would. 

Mr.  Patterson.  What  about  the  rock  in  the  bottom  of  the  San  J  nan 
Eiver? 

Mr.  Miller.  It  is  like  all  the  rock  of  the  country,  which  is  largely  of 
igneous  or  volcanic  form,  and  while  it  is  hard  it  drills  readily,  of  course, 
with  a  diamond  drill,  and  in  blasting  it  comes  out  in  pieces  large  enough 
to  be  handled  successfully;  and  we  believe  it  is  a  no  more  expensive 
rock  to  quarry  than  the  rock  found  at  the  Saulte,  or  not  much  more 
expensive  than  the  rock  found  on  the  drainage  canal  at  Chicago.  But 
even  it  it  is,  the  prices  we  have  estimated  under  present  conditions  are 
extremely  large,  because,  as  I  say,  we  have  made  a  basis  upon  a  system 
of  doing  it  which  is  much  more  expensive  than  it  is  at  the  present  time. 
Now,  a  dredging  x)lant  to-day — a  suction  dredge  doing  this  work  at 
Mobile  and  some  of  the  ports  of  Mexico — has  demonstrated  that  the 
l)rincipai  part  of  the  dredging  can  be  done  at  an  actual  cost  of  not 
exceeding  5  cents  a  cubic  yard,  whereas  our  lowest  estimate  is  20  cents. 
The  Government  has  just  had  constructed  for  u.se  of  the  jMississippi 
Kiver  Commission  a  great  dredge,  which,  I  am  told  by  the  builder,  is 
enabled  to  handle  6,000  cubic  yards  an  hour,  which  is  twice  as  much 
earth  as  the  entire  United  States  Army  can  handle  if  it  was  furnished 
with  wheelbarrows  and  shovels.     It  is  all  done  by  one  machine. 

Our  estimates  were  made  when  it  was  assumed  in  the  harbor  it  would 
be  necessary  to  put  the  material  into  scows  and  tow  them  out  to  sea 
4  or  5  miles  to  be  dumped.  Nothing  of  the  kind  now  is  done.  The 
material  is  pumped  through  a  pipe  and  discharged  directly  from  the 
dredge  at  a  distance  of  a  half,  three-quarters,  or  a  mile  and  dumped 
off  in  the  swamps  along  the  canal,  and  not  a  particle  put  in  a  scow 


20  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

and  towed  out  to  sea.  The  builders  of  a  modern  dredge  would  like 
Dotliiug-  better  tLau  to  have  a  coutract  to  do  this  work  at  our  estimate 
instead  of  increasing  it. 

In  the  building  of  the  locks  of  course  a  large  amount  of  concrete  has 
to  be  used.  The  bulk  of  the  locks  is  to  be  made  of  concrete;  that  is, 
a  mixture  of  Portland  cement,  sand,  and  broken  stone.  We  have  esti- 
mated all  of  that  at  $0  a  cubic  yard  in  place.  The  Commission  lind 
that  that  is  not  sufficient,  and  they  raise  the  price  of  that  to  §9.50  a  yard 
because  they  say  some  of  the  work  on  the  Hennepin  Canal  cost  that 
much  to  do  there.  ]S^ow  let  us  see.  The  work  done  in  Alabama  by  the 
Government,  now  substantially  completed,  on  the  Coosa  dam  cost  $4:M 
a  cubic  yard  for  concrete  in  place,  and  the  cost  of  the  Portland  cement 
was  about  $2.50  a  barrel  delivered.  Portland  cement  can  be  laid  down 
at  Greytown  from  England  or  Belgium  in  shiploads  at  $1.50  to  $1.75 
per  barrel.  Tliere  is  no  duty,  of  course,  in  Nicaragua  upon  anything 
that  the  canal  company  chooses  to  take  in  for  use  upon  the  canal. 
We  have  as  fine  sand  as  can  be  found  anywhere  in  the  world  for 
masonry,  and  of  course  the  rock  is  free,  as  it  is  taken  out  of  the  cut. 
We  can  get  offers  from  responsible  parties  giving-  bond  to  do  all  the 
concrete  work  at  $0  per  cubic  yard.  There  is  no  doubt  it  can  be  done 
actually  at  from  $4  to  $1.50,  but  the  contractors  must  necessarily  nuike 
a  profit,  and  when  they  go  into  a  country  like  Nicaragua  they  expect  to 
make  large  profits;  but'thereis  no  trouble  at  all  about  famishing  con- 
tractors who  will  do  the  work  at  our  price  named,  which  is  $0  per 
yard. 

We  submit  that  this  estimate  of  the  Commission  is  simply  out  of  all 
character  and  uncalled  for,  and  no  reason  can  be  given  except  a  desire 
to  increase  the  cost  of  the  whole  canal.  We  find  this  increased  cost 
based  upon  two  things,  an  increase  of  the  quantities  by  increasing  the 
prism  of  the  canal,  and,  secondly,  by  depreciating  the  value  of  the 
labor,  which  is  unfounded.  Now,  modern  methods  of  dredging  and 
excavating  have  been  so  much  improved  since  our  estimates  were  nuxde 
that  we  might  safely,  if  we  saw  fit,  reduce  our  estimate  upon  those 
things  at  least  25  per  cent,  and  in  many  crises  50  per  cent.  Upon  that 
])oint  of  the  case  Mr.  Treat,  of  whom  I  spoke  this  morning,  who  went 
down  to  build  the  railroad  for  the  company  and  is  an  able  man  and 
very  reliable,  and  who  spent  nearly  a  year  in  Nicaragua,  wrote  me  a 
letter  some  time  ago  stating  that  he  would  take  the  entire  contract  for 
the  canal  and  do  all  the  work  at  the  price  named  by  our  chief  engineer 
in  his  estimate,  we  of  course  guaranteeing  the  quantities  to  l)e  not 
greater  than  those  stated  in  our  estinuites.  Further  than  that,  he 
offered  to  build  the  entire  canal  for  $90,000,000  and  take  no  guaranty 
as  to  the  actual  quantities.  If  the  quantities  exceeded  our  estimates 
he  was  to  do  the  work  complete,  giving  us  the  canal  28  feet  in  depth, 
125  feet  at  the  bottom  at  the  beginning,  125  feet  in  the  river  and  150 
feet  in  the  lake. 

I  only  mention  this  to  show  you  it  is  possible  to  bring  before  this 
conmiittee  a  number  of  skilled  and  able  contractors  in  this  country 
who  will  verify  every  statement  I  have  made  as  to  the  cost  of  doing 
this  kind  of  work  at  the  present  time.  The  builder  of  this  new  dredge, 
of  which  he  is  justly  very  proud  and  which  has  demonstrated  its  ability 
to  handle  0,000  cubic  yards  an  hour,  is  here  in  the  city,  and  in  talking 
with  him  in  regard  to  it  last  night  he  confirmed  all  I  have  said  to  you  in 
regard  to  this  matter,  and  we  hold  there  is  no  necessity  or  occasion  for 
making  an  increased  size  of  this  canal  at  the  present  time.  Twenty-eight 
feet  of" depth  is  deeper  than  any  other  ship  caual  in  the  world,  and  if  in 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  21 

future  generations  it  should  be  necessary  to  increase  the  depth  to  30  feet 
it  can  be  donejust  as  well  after  the  canal  is  finished  as  it  can  be  done  now, 
or  even  cheaper,  because  then  dredges  could  move  easily  through  the 
whole  length  of  the  canal,  and  with  this  modern  machinery  dredge  out 
the  30  feet  required;  but  no  one  supposes  the  great  ocean  greyhounds 
which  ply  between  Portsmouth,  Liverpool,  and  New  York  are  going  to 
be  in  the  trade  of  the  Pacific.  You  hnd  most  of  the  vessels  engaged 
now  are  22  to  25  feet  draft,  very  few  that  are  inore  than  22  or  23  feet. 

Mr.  Patterson.  And  none  more  than  28  feet? 

Mr.  Miller.  None  more  than  25;  and  I  do  not  know  any  of  that 
kind. 

Mr.  Bennett.  When  you  say  a  depth  of  28  feet,  do  you  mean  it  will 
take  a  vessel,  say,,of  27  feet! 

Mr.  Miller.  Well,  I  suppose  with  28  feet  you  would  scarcely  want 
to  take  a  vessel  of  more  than  lu'obabh'  20  feet  draft,  because  as  a  vessel 
moves  it  draws  down  a  little  and  it  might  touch  bottom,  but,  mind  you, 
a  greater  portion  of  this  entire  canal,  so  far  as  vessels  are  concerned, 
is  without  bottom.  The  river,  except  at  points  I  have  mentioned,  is 
anywhere  from  40  to  100  feet  deep,  and  after  you  get  out  in  the  lake 
over  the  mud  I  have  described  then  the  lake  is  from  50  to  150  feet  in 
depth,  so  that  the  mininuim  of  28  feet  is  only  for  a  small  part  of  the 
way.  The  bulk  of  it  is  of  course  entirely  free,  but  the  cost  of  getting 
a  dei>th  of  30  feet  instead  of  28  would  be  very  slight  after  it  was  com- 
pleted. Mind  you,  the  meter  sills  of  all  locks  are  required  to  be  30  feet 
so  there  will  be  30  feet  in  all  locks,  so  you  have  simply  to  take  up  the 
bottom  of  the  river  and  sand  in  the  liarbor  to  give  you  30  feet  the 
whole  length  if  you  want  to,  and  why  we  should  go  on  and  add 
$10,000,000  to  the  cost  of  this  or  any  other  considerable  sum  to  make 
30  feet  to  start  with,  whereas  the  Suez  started  with  a  depth  of  20  and 
the  Manchester  at  26  feet,  I  do  not  see  tlie  force  of  it. 

On  the  west  side  from  here  down  [illustrating  on  map]  there  is  no 
necessity  of  taking  up  your  time  in  regard  to  that.  I  will  say  here  tliat 
the  company  i)resented  two  plans;  one  was  to  carry  the  water  through 
here  without  a  dam  and  the  other  with  a  dam.  Here  is  a  natural 
depression  in  the  earth,  called  the  Tola  Basin,  covering  some  4,000  or 
5,000  acres,  which  is  4  or  5  miles  long,  and  where  it  opens  out  here  it 
is  narrow.  One  plan  involved  building  a  dam  across  that  gap,  thus 
making  a  large  basin  and  saving  excavations.  The  other  was  to  carry 
the  canal  down  throngh  the  basin  in  excavations,  just  as  through  any 
land,  and  not  building  any  dam.  Of  course  that  dam  can  be  safely  put 
there,  and  it  would  not  be  as  expensive  as  the  excavation,  and  would 
give  a  large  basin,  in  which  vessels  could  lie  at  anchor  there,  or  wliero 
they  could  pass  each  other  without  any  trouble  at  all;  but  the  Commis- 
sion recommend,  I  believe,  that  a  dam  be  not  built,  but  that  the  canal 
be  built  by  excavation. 

That  is  a  mere  difference  of  detail,  and  it  is  a  matter  which  is  nor 
worth  while  to  stop  to  discuss  one  way  or  another.  What  they  did, 
however,  without  giving  it  any  consideration  at  all,  is,  they  undertook 
to  change  the  line  of  the  canal  here  4  or  5  miles  from  the  right  bank  to 
the  left  bank  of  the  Rio  Grande,  which  would  largely  increase  its  cost, 
because  it  would  necessitate  a  diverting  of  the  liio  Grande  and  build- 
ing a  channel  for  it,  which  would  be  almost  as  expensive  as  the  canal 
itself;  and  there  is  no  possible  good  reason  which  can  be  given  for  it. 
It  is  clear  country  here,  and  no  Hue  has  ever  been  so  thorougldy  invest) 
gated  and  surveyed  as  that  is.  Mind  you,  these  surveys  of  ours  follow 
largely  in  the  line  of  the  one  made  by  Mr.  Childs  for  Commodore  Van- 


22  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

derbilt,  and  two  surveys  made  by  tlie  United  States  Government  itself, 
and  one  partial  survey  made  by  the  Kiearaguan  Government,  and  they 
all  came  to  the  same  conclusion. 

I  undertake  to  say  that  no  work  of  this  magnitude  or  anything  like 
it  has  ever  been  so  thoroughly  prepared  for  the  beginning  of  work  as 
this  has  in  advance.  We  have  surveys  as  accurate  as  surveys  of  that 
kind  can  be  made,  and  any  necessity  for  delay  for  further  investigation 
does  not  exist.     Now,  the  Commission  undertakes  to  say 

Mr.  Patterson.  Eight  in  that  connection.  Now,  there  has  been 
repeated  surveys;  is  there  a  consensus  of  opinion,  or  rather  is  there  a 
concurrence  of  opinion,  among  these  surveyors  in  regard  to  the  line? 

Mr.  Miller.  Substantially  so.  The  original  and  old  surveys  under- 
took to  follow  the  river  there  and  make  several  dams,  and  to  follow  tlie 
river  dowu  through  here  [illustrating],  but  that  was  soon  abandoned 
because  of  the  amount  of  silt  and  deposits  which  came  down,  and  it 
would  have  filled  up  and  made  the  passage  impossible  to  navigate. 

Mr.  Patterson.  So  the  researches 

Mr.  Miller.  Have  all  come  to  the  same  end,  and  there  is  nothing 
suggested  by  this  Commission  except  minor  details.  As  I  stated  to  you 
this  morning,  they  argue  against  theOchoa  dam,  and  end  up  by  saying 
it  is  possible  and  it  can  be  built. 

I\Ir.  Patterson.  Did  the  Commission  survey  the  route  at  all? 

Mr.  Miller.  The  Commission  spent  from  twelve  to  fourteen  days  on 
or  near  the  line  of  the  canal.  They  never  made  any  surveys  of  any 
kind.  They  never  even  stopped  at  the  sight  of  the  Ochoa  dam.  and  of 
course  the  Commission  could  not  have  made  a  survey.  They  could  not 
make  any  survey  that  would  be  of  the  slightest  use  without  two  or 
three  years'  time  with  a  corps  of  engineers. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Tell  me,  now,  could  not  any  competent  engineer 
here  at  Washington,  with  the  data  which  was  before  that  Commission, 
have  as  good  an  opportunity  to  arrive  at  a  correct  conclusion  as  they 
did? 

Mr.  Miller.  Certainly  he  could.  There  is  no  man  who  can  go  there 
avd  gain  any  knowledge  except  he  gets  a  general  idea  of  the  country 
and  material  and  he  has  an  impression  which  goes  with  him  and 
undoubtedly  helps  him  to  a  certain  extent,  and  no  engineer  would  con- 
sider it  necessary  to  go  there  except  to  verify;  but  assuming  our  sur- 
veys, so  far  as  they  go,  are  correct,  any  engineer  anywhere  in  the  world 
can  take  the  plans  and  go  over  them  and  see  whether  they  are  feasible ;  of 
course,  starting  upon  the  premises  as  to  what  we  have  given  him  is  true. 

Mr.  Patterson.  They  state  the  practicability  of  constructing  acanal, 
but  if  I  understand  you  they  insist  upon  an  increased  cost  growing  out 
of  the  width  of  the  canal  and  depth  of  the  canal,  and  paying  a  much 
larger  ])rice  for  work  and  for  wages  than  has  been  estimated  by  the 
company? 

Mr.  Miller.  That  is  what  it  amounts  to.  That  is  what  their  report 
says.  I  do  not  think  they  are  fair  enough  to  state  their  increased  cost 
comes  in  that  way,  but  that  is  an  absolute  and  necessary  inference, 
because  it  gives  the  increased  quantities  and  then  it  takes  an  increased 
unit  of  price  for  doing  the  work,  and  of  course  the  increased  cost  comes 
from  those  two  elements. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Have  you  made  an  estimate  of  the  increased  cost 
growing  out  of  these  various  facts  you  have  stated  here  in  respect  to 
the  diverting  of  the  canal  and  the  dredging  and  wages,  and  the  cost  of 
removing  material,  and  all  that? 

Mr.  Miller.  I  have  not  myself,  but  Mr.  Menocal  told  me  he  had  gone 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  23 

over  it.  and  the  increased  cost  by  increasing  the  quantities  woukl  be 
something  lilie  iB10,0U0,0()0,  and  the  increased  cost  of  labor  on  their  basis 
in  addition. 

Now,  while  on  that  point  of  cost,  I  want  to  call  the  attention  of  the 
committee  to  some  rei)orts  here,  a  report  made  in  the  Senate  in  the 
last  Congress  by  Senator  Morgan,  which  gives  lirst  the  report  of  our 
engineer  of  his  estimate  of  the  cost  of  this  work  in  detail,  the  figures 
of  which  are  stated,  20  cents  per  cubic  yard  for  dredging,  $1.50  for 
removal  of  rock  above  water,  $5  for  removal  of  rock  under  water,  and 
$G  for  concrete,  etc.  That  estimate  was  made  and  reported  to  the  com- 
pany at  the  beginning,  before  I  became  connected  with  it.  In  my  talk 
this  morning,  I  stated"  the  time  that  I  became  connected  "with  this 
enterprise,  but  it  is  gone  into  here  in  great  detail,  and  that  estimate  of 
Mr.  Menocal  amounted  to  $05,000,000.  ISTow,  the  company,  before  pro- 
ceeding further,  took  all  this  data,  all  these  surveys,  and  all  work  that 
had  been  done  by  our  engineers  over  three  years'  time,  and  submitted 
them  to  a  board  of  leading  engineers  which  was  gathered  in  New  York, 
at  the  head  of  which  was  Mr.  John  Bogart,  a  very  distinguished  engi- 
neer, who  was  for  several  years  the  engineer  of  the  State  of  New  York. 

In  New  York  we  have  an  ofiQcer  known  as  the  State  engineer  and  sur- 
veyor, who  is  elected  by  the  people,  the  same  as  other  ofGcers.  He  is 
in  charge  of  the  whole  canal  system — Erie,  Champlain,  etc.,  and  all 
those< great  works — and  I  know  of  no  man  more  competent.  With  him 
were  associated  four  other  engineers,  Mr.  Myers,  one  of  the  leading- 
railroad  engineers  of  the  South,  who  resides,  I  believe,  in  liichmond; 
Mr.  Wellington,  who  was  the  editor  of  the  Engineering  News,  a  very 
distinguished  engineer;  Mr.  Harvey,  who  was  the  engineer  connected 
with  the  building  of  the  first  lock  of  the  Sault  Ste.  Marie,  and  Mr. 
Hitchcock,  an  able  engineer.  These  gentlemen  took  all  of  this  data 
and  sjient  a  long  time  upon  it  and  made  a  report  to  the  company,  and 
that  is  printed  here,  and  I  want  to  read  just  a  few  clauses  from  it  to 
give  you  some  idea.     They  begin  by  saying: 

We  have  carefully  examined  the  unusually  full  maps,  profiles,  borings,  samples  of 
material,  etc.,  which  have  been  prepared  and  collected  under  tlie  directions  of  your 
chief  engineer,  and  the  completeness  and  excellent  form  of  which  reflect  credit  upon 
your  engineering  staff. 

I  will  not  undertake  to  read  the  whole  of  it,  although  it  is  important. 
They  go  on  further  to  say : 

The  project  as  a  whole  appears  to  have  comparatively  few  elements  of  doubt  about 
it,  as  comparing  it  with  other  works  of  at  all  similar  magnitude,  and  we  consider  it 
to  be  uuqiiestionably  feasible.  Thegreatareaof  Lake  Nicaragua  offers  i  in  munity  from 
serious tioodsbyregiilatiugflow.  Much  of  the  earth  excavation  and  dredging,  the  rock 
drilling,  and  the  concrete  mixing  can  be  done  by  mechanical  means,  to  that  extent 
reducing  the  needs  for  manual  labor.  The  dams  and  embankments  are  proposed  to 
be  made  largely  from  the  immense  mass  of  otherwise  useless  rock  spoil.  Under  the 
climatic  conditions,  as  we  understand  them,  an  adequate  supply  of  labor  should  be 
obtainable.     The  project  in  detail  consists  of  the  following  elements: 

Then  they  proceed  to  describe  the  line  of  the  canal,  which  of  course 
I  will  not  read.  As  this  document  is  accessible  to  the  committee,  I 
will  not  go  further  into  it.  They  find  the  figures  of  our  engineers  to  be 
substantially  correct  as  to  its  estimates,  but  in  addition  to  that  they  add 
20  per  cent  to  contingencies  of  construction  as  a  factor  for  safety,  and 
they  carry  the  grand  total  of  the  estimate  up  to  $87,799,570,  and  those 
are  the  figures  which  the  company  has  acted  upon  instead  of  upon  the 
preliminary  report  of  Mr.  Menocal. 

Mr.  Patterson.  What  was  the  estimate  of  the  English  engineer,  to 
"whom  you  referred"^ 


24  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

Mr.  MiLLEE.  The  estimate  of  the  English  engineer  was  within  a 
million  dollars  of  Mr.  INIenocal's  estimate. 

Now,  one  thing  more  in  regard  to  the  findings  of  the  Commission  or 
its  criticisms.  They  claim  we  have  not  snftieient  knowledge  of  the 
hydraulic  conditions — that  is  to  say,  of  the  rainfall  and  of  tiie  tioods 
and  of  the  lake  and  of  the  river — and  they  say  that  more  data  should  be 
obtained,  and  they  recommend  making  careful  observations  for  eighteen 
months.  Now,  the  companj^  have  made  careful  observations  for  a  nnich 
longer  time  than  that,  and  these  data  are  perfectly  at  their  command, 
and  have  been  published  by  the  comi)any.  But  let  us  see.  The  history 
of  Nicaragua  for  a  long  time  is  well  known  in  this  country — certainly 
since  1849,  when  the  California  gold  fever  broke  out  and  people  began 
to  go  over  it.  We  know  from  that  time  to  the  present  there  has  never 
been  any  disastrous  flood  there,  and  from  the  nature  of  things  it  is 
almost  impossible  to  have  one  there.  In  the  first  place,  the  rainfall 
upon  the  eastern  side  is  very  great,  anyhow — nearly  300  inches  a  year, 
and  it  is  difficult  to  imagine  any  greater  rainfall  than  that — and  that 
rainfall  lias  done  no  injury  to  the  works  of  the  company,  nor  has  it  done 
any  serious  injury  at  any  time  to  the  river.  The  fact  is,  Lake  Nica- 
ragua is  a  great  reservoir,  which  takes  in  the  watersheds  of  the  country 
and  acts  as  a  regulator.  Dui-ing  the  wet  period  the  lake  gradually 
rises,  usually  not  more  than  0  feet  in  the  several  months  of  rain.  Then 
it  gradually  recedes  again  during  the  dry  months,  and  the  floods  of  the 
San  Juan  Eiver  are  not  sudden  floods,  such  as  we  have  here  in  this 
country. 

A  few  weeks  ago  we  had  floods  in  the  great  rivers  of  Maine,  the  Andro- 
scoggin and  Penobscot,  which  did  damage  of  millions  of  dollars,  which 
all  happened  in  a  day  by  the  melting  of  snows;  but  no  such  thing  hap- 
pens in  Nicaragua.  Any  examination  of  the  San  Juan  lliver  ma<le  by 
anyone  will  show  you  the  high-water  marks  upon  the  banks  and  upon 
the  trees.  Everyone  knows  you  can  go  along  a  river  and  tell  what  the 
high-water  mark  is.  The  rise  of  the  San  Juan  Eiver  is  from  4  to  6 
feet.  It  is  scarcely  ever  known  to  be  more  than  that,  and  it  has  never 
done  serious  damage  to  the  country  at  all.  Mr.  Menocal,  chief  engineer, 
in  preparing  the  Ochoa  dam  flows,  prepared  wasteweirs  to  take  the 
average  flow  of  the  river,  assuming  it  to  be  03,000  cubic  feet  per  second, 
and  he  planned  his  wasteweirs  to  discharge  double  that  amount  of 
water,  or  125,000  cubic  feet  per  second.  The  Commission  goes  beyond 
that,  and  say  it  might  at  high  flood  discharge  150,000  cubic  feet  per 
second.  That  is  a  mere  matter  of  detail.  Of  course  we  could  build 
wasteweirs  large  enough  to  take  oft  200,000  feet  of  water  per  second, 
but  it  would  cost  several  hundred  thousand  dollars  more  to  do  it;  but 
we  should  find  that  out  during  the  process  of  construction. 

If  we  wait  a  year  and  a  half  before  proceeding  with  this  work  in 
order  to  make  these  observations  what  value  will  they  be!  What  was 
the  condition  of  the  Great  Lakes  last  year,  3  or  4  feet  lower  than  they 
were  ever  known  to  be  in  the  last  forty  years !  The  St.  Lawrence  River 
last  year  was  3  feet  below  the  lowest  water  it  has  ever  kuowu,  and 
vessels  were  running  on  rocks  which  were  never  known  to  be  in  exist- 
ence. Suppose  the  improvements  of  the  harbors  of  the  Great  Lakes 
had  been  stopped  or  never  commenced,  because  we  had  not  sufficient 
data  of  the  hydraulic  conditions,  and  did  not  know  what  was  the  highest 
water  or  the  lowest  water"?  Last  year  we  found  harbors  which  for- 
merly had  22  and  23  feet  of  water  had  only  18  or  19  feet  of  water  in 
them.  But  I  do  not  think  anybody  would  argue  tliat  we  ought  to  wait 
forever  to  find  this  out,  but  if  you  did  you  would  have  to  take  a  period 


NICARAGUA   CANAL.  25 

running  from  twenty  to  fifty  years,  and  then  there  would  be  no  reason 
able  certainty  about  it. 

As  I  state(T  here  this  morning,  if  the  Ochoa  dam  went  away  it  would 
not  injure  the  construction  part  of  this  canal  at  all.  It  is  possible  to 
get  rid  of  all  the  water  liere  and  wasteweirs  can  be  made  to  pass 
150,000  cubic  feet  per  second,  as  the  Commission  say,  or  200,000  or  any 
other  reasonable  amount.  But  no  such  danger  exists.  But  whtit 
could  be  learned  in  a  year  and  a  half  would  amount  to  nothing,  and  it 
is  not  nearly  as  much  as  we  have  now  and  the  canal  would  be  five  or 
six  years  in  process  of  construction  before  we  would  get  the  dam  up 
and  the  wasteweirs,  and  we  would  know  what  the  conditions  were 
then  anyhow  and  we  would  make  provision  for  them.  I  do  not  think 
it  neecessary  to  extendedly  consider  the  question  of  rainfall.  One  of 
the  things  that  has  recommended  this  route  to  all  engineers  who  have 
ever  examined  it  has  been  its  freedom  from  floods  so  different  from  the 
Panama  route  in  connection  with  the  Chagres  Kiver,  from  the  fact  of 
this  great  reservoir  which  gradually  rises  and  gradually  falls. 

Mr.  Patterson.  I  have  lieard  it  occasionally  suggested,  and  seen  it 
frequently  in  print,  that  probably  earthquakes  in  that  country  would 
very  seriously  interfere  with  this  enterprise. 

Mr.  Miller.  Yes  -,  I  understand  a  great  railroad  man  said  the  records 
of  a  thousand  years  showed  that  no  canal  could  be  maintained  there. 
I  asked  where  the  records  were  for  a  thousand  years,  but  of  course  they 
could  not  be  produced.  Now,  there  has  been  no  serious  earthquake 
along  the  line  of  the  canal  within  the  knowledge  of  man,  and  the  earth- 
quakes that  have  been  there  in  modern  times  have  never  damaged  any- 
thing but  the  spires  of  churches.  The  motion  of  an  earthquake  at  the 
surface  of  the  earth  is  very  slight.  Of  course,  if  yon  go  up  100  or  200 
feet  in  the  air,  at  the  top  of  a  spire,  it  becomes  important,  but  there 
have  been  no  earthquakes  in  Nicaragua  that  would  have  damaged  any 
works  connected  with  the  canal  at  all.  Not  only  that,  but  the  wells 
which  are  dug  in  the  earth  have  not  been  destroyed  or  broken  by  earth- 
quakes, and  no  change  has  been  made  in  the  >San  Juan  Kiver  or  any 
rivers  there  since  we  had  any  knowledge  of  the  country  or  any  his- 
tory of  it.  I  took  down  with  me,  Avhen  I  went  to  Nicaragua,  ^lajor 
Dunton,  who  is  one  of  the  greatest  seismic  scientists  in  the  world,  and 
who,  under  the  direction  of  the  Government,  spent  four  or  five  years  in 
the  Hawaiian  Islands  and  elsewhere  studying  earthquakes  and  volca- 
noes, and  he  has  made  a  very  full  report  as  to  what  he  found,  and  it 
has  been  printed  by  the  War  department.  The  whole  question  is  there 
answered  satisfactorily. 

The  damage  done  there  by  earthquakes  has  been  nothing  like  that 
done  in  Charleston  a  few  years  ago,  and  other  places  in  this  country, 
and  as  the  works  of  the  canal  are  below  or  even  with  the  surface  of 
the  earth  no  fear  is  entertained ;  but  if  it  were  feared  that  the  locks 
might  be  injured  by  earthtiuake  shocks,  those  locks  could  be  built 
entirely  of  steel,  as  they  are  being  built  in  New  York  and  elsewhere, 
and  it  is  not  at  all  certain  it  could  not  be  made  cheaper  to  have  the 
foundation  of  concrete  and  build  the  superstructure  of  steel,  which 
could  be  prepared  in  this  country  and  taken  down  there  and  set  and  in 
less  time  than  it  could  be  constructed  of  concrete.  That  is  being  con- 
sidered by  the  engineers,  but  when  the  company  suspended  operation 
the  engineers  who  had  charge  of  it  of  course  suspended  their  labors; 
but  before  the  locks  were  built  undoubtedly  this  plan  would  be  con- 
sidered, and  then  it  would  be  submitted  to  a  board  of  leading  engineers 
to  d4?cide  whether  the  locks  should  be  built  of  concrete  or  steel  con- 


26  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

struction  work  and  filled  in  with  concrete  or  stone,  so  there  is  no  danj^er 
from  that  under  any  circumstances.  Now,  I  do  not  know  that  I  caro  to 
say  anytliiug  further  in  reijard  to  tbe  cost.  There  is  one  otber  thing 
which  passed  from  my  mind 

Mr.  Patterson.  In  regard  to  the  harbor  at  Brito,  there  are  some 
difficulties  there,  are  there  not? 

Mr.  JMiLLER.  At  Brito  the  Commissioners  of  course  recommend  a 
change  of  that  farther  to  the  south.  The  report  made  by  Mr.  Menocal 
in  regard  to  the  winds  will  show  that  will  be  unwise.  Brito  was 
selected  after  several  surveys  had  been  made.  In  fact  ColonelChild's 
survey  ran  in  the  same  direction  because  the  canal  went  down  the  north 
channel  of  the  stream,  which  saved  large  excavations,  and  at  Brito 
there  was  a  small  stream  emptying  into  the  Pacific,  and  there  was  a  bar 
on  which  there  was  from  i  to  0  feet  of  water,  and  on  the  north  side  of 
this  is  a  promontory  of  at  least  100  feet  high  of  solid  rock  running  out 
into  the  ocean,  and  naturally  we  took  this  promontory  as  one  of  the 
breakwaters  and  built  another  breakwater  parallel  to  it,  a  very  natnral 
place  and  a  very  easy  place  to  build  a  harbor,  and  the  breakwater  is 
built  out,  and  of  course  between  this  breakwater  and  this  natural 
promontory  a  channel  would  be  dredged,  and  the  interior  basin  is  of 
sufficient  size  to  hold  all  the  ships  that  would  be  necessary,  and  the 
answer  to  the  report  made  by  Engineer  Menocal  I  think  will  satisfy 
every  member  of  the  committee  there  is  no  sufficient  reason  given  for 
any  change  of  that  location,  but  if  there  were  any  good  reason  of  course 
the  board  of  consulting  engineers  would  discover  it  and  the  change 
would  be  made. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Are  the  engineering  difficulties  there  as  great  as 
they  are  at  Greytown  ! 

Mr.  Miller.  I  should  say  not,  from  my  own  investigation  of  it,  and 
I  have  been  there.  Of  course,  Greytown  twenty-five  or  thirty  years 
ago  was  a  deep-water  harbor.  It  is  a  natural  harbor,  but  the  bar  closed 
and  then  gradually  the  harbor  filled,  so  at  last  there  is  some  14  to  20 
feet  of  water  in  some  places  and  some  places  less.  A  portion  of  that 
harbor  is  going  to  be  dredged  out  to  a  final  depth  of  30  feet. 

Mr.  Patterson.  You  have  to  excavate  near  the  Pacific  coast;  you 
have  to  cut  a  dividing  ridge  or  two,  do  you  not? 

Mr.  Miller.  As  we  go  out  from  the  lake  here,  we  go  across  the  low- 
est piece  of  land  there  is  in  Nicaragua.  The  extreme  height  of  that 
land  here  [illustrating]  above  water  is  45  feet,  and  the  average  height 
above  water  is  20  feet,  so  you  have  to  make  an  excavation  of  20  feet  ou 
an  average,  and  then  30  feet  below  to  get  the  depth  of  water  in  the 
canal.  This  work  has  been  most  thoroughly  and  carefully  surveyed, 
because  that  is  occupied  mainly  with  farms  and  not  difficult  to  get  at 
at  all. 

I  may  say  one  more  word  in  regard  to  the  Commission  increasing  the 
size  of  the  prism  of  the  canal  on  the  river  from  125  to  250,  and  on  the  lake 
from  150  to  300  feet.  They  may  have  had  in  mind  that  as  many  ships 
were  to  pass  through  this  canal  every  year  as  through  Saulte  Ste.  Marie 
and  therefore  the  canal  has  to  be  made  so  wide,  but  what  are  the  facts? 
Last  year  there  passed  through  theSaulte  Canal  vessels  to  the  number 
of  something  like  17,000,  being  something  over  70  a  day,  nearly  75  dur- 
ing the  230  days  that  it  is  open.  Sui)pose  the  JSTicarauga  Canal  carried 
6,000,000  tons  per  annum  only.  Ordinary  vessels  navigating  the  sea 
which  would  pass  through  it  would  only  take  11  vessels  a  day  passing 
through  the  canal  to  carry  that  amount  of  tonnage,  and  it  goes  without 
saying  that  the  capacity  of  passing  in  this  broad  basin  here  and  the 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  27 

San  Francisco  Basin  and  in  the  main  river  and  in  the  lake  and  Tola 
basin,  that  there  is  only  a  small  portion  of  the  canal  in  which  vessels 
conld  not  pass  freely,  bnt  large  seagoing^  vessels  pass  to-day  without 
any  interrnption  in  the  Manchester  iShip  Canal,  the  bottom  of  which  is 
only  125  feet. 

So,  is  tliere  any  reason  why  they  conld  not  pass  just  as  well  in  the 
Nicaragua  waters  as  in  the  English  waters?  I  see  none  at  all,  and 
the  small  number  of  vessels  which  necessarily  pass  through  any  canal 
of  this  kind  in  a  year  makes  it  possible,  if  there  should  be  any  ditticulty 
in  the  bends  of  the  river  in  passing  freely,  to  hold  ships  by  means  of 
the  telegraph,  and  one  vessel  would  not  be  allowed  to  go  into  a  narrow 
channel  until  another  had  gotten  out  of  it.  There  would  be  no  ditti- 
culty  about  that  at  all  with  the  small  number  of  vessels  passing  through 
the  Suez  Canal  last  year,  in  which  3,CU0  or  3,700  vessels  passed.  That 
is  somewhere  from  11  to  V2  or  13  vessels  a  day.  The  necessities  of  a 
canal  of  this  kind  do  not  demand  any  such  width,  and  there  ought  not 
to  be  any  such  waste  of  money,  but  this  Commission  seems  to  have 
gone  on  the  idea  tliat  this  canal  should  be  begun  on  the  most  expensive 
scale,  as  regards  width,  depth,  etc. 

Mr.  Patterson.  I  understand  after  you  get  out  of  the  basin  at  Grey- 
town  and  get  to  the  footliills,  from  there  to  the  Pacihc  Ocean  you 
have  a  salubrious  climate — it  is  a  rather  healthful  country — and  there 
would  be  less  likelihood  of  any  i)eople  engaged  in  labor  dying  and  being 
sick  than  at  Grey  town? 

Mr.  Miller.  The  conditions  are  these  and  the  records  show  it.  At 
Greytowu  there  is  never  a  day  in  the  year  in  which  the  trade  winds  do 
not  blow,  in  which  the  winds  blow  from  the  ocean  on  to  the  land.  The 
result  is,  while  this  low  land  would  naturally  create  miasnm  and  fever 
and  does  to  a  certain  extent,  these  constantly  blowing  winds  make  it 
substantially  healthy.  As  I  told  you,  there  were  for  six  months  1,G00 
Jamaica  negroes  working  upon  this  line  of  railroad,  11  miles  long. 
Only  four  of  them  died  there  of  any  disease;  others  were  killed  by 
accident.  The  moment  you  approach  the  foothills  and  mountains  the 
rain  decreases.  When  you  come  to  the  lake,  we  have  a  record  from 
Dr.  Hall,  who  lives  at  Kivas,  5  miles  from  the  line  of  the  canal,  who  has 
resided  there  for  thirty  or  forty  years.  I  know  him  \Vell.  He  has  kept  a 
record  of  the  rainfall  of  all  that  region,  which  shows  an  average  fall  of 
65  inches  annually.  Of  course,  no  tropical  country  is  a  sanitarium,  but 
I  went  through  that  country  in  the  month  of  March  and  part  of  April 
with  a  party  of  thirty  gentlemen.  Some  of  them  were  over  GO  years 
of  age  and  others  down  to  20  years  of  age,  none  of  whom  were  familiar 
with  the  tropics  or  had  been  in  them.  We  tramped  through  this  wil- 
derness and  slept  in  open  sheds  at  night  and  waded  swamj^s  and  drank 
the  water  of  the  country.  Not  one  of  the  thirty  was  sick  at  all  during 
the  entire  journey  or  during  the  time  we  were  there. 

We  have  had  American  engineers  who  have  been  three  years  con- 
tinuously in  Nicaragua  without  ever  being  sick  or  going  to  the  hospital. 
Other  engineers  have  been  sick  for  a  short  time,  but  the  records  of  the 
hospital — and  I  believe  the  subcommittee  have  hatl  Dr.  Stubbert  before 
them,  who  was  chief  surgeon  and  in  charge  of  this  business  all  the  time 
the  company  was  carrying  on  work,  and  here  is  a  short  sketch  from  the 
hospital  if  it  will  not  detain  the  committee  too  long.  Here  is  one  year's 
work.  Number  of  i^atieuts  in  the  hospital  December  31,  1890,  25;  ad- 
mitted during  the  year  507,  total  number  of  patients  532;  discharged 
cured  339,  discharged  improved  112;  unimproved  8;  died  10.  In  the 
hospital  December  31.  1891,  63,  and  of  the  deaths,  4  were  the  results  of 


28  NICARAGUA   CANAL. 

accidents  suffered  wliile  at  work,  1  from  syphilis,  and  5  were  from  cli- 
matic ailments.  Tliis  was  less  than  1  per  cent,  or  accurately  speaking 
0.93  of  1  per  cent.  Total  death  rate  for  the  year  was  0.187  per  cent 
includino;  those  who  died  by  accident.  I  do  not  believe  any  great  jmblic 
work  in  the  United  States  can  show  any  better  record. 

Mr.  Patterson.  What  about  the  Chagres  fever  which  prevails  at 
Panama  f 

Mr.  Miller.  ISTo  such  fever  has  been  known  at  JSTicaragua,  and  there 
is  no  record  in  modern  times  of  a  single  case  of  yellow  fever  even  at 
Grey  town.  During  our  work  there  came  a  steamer  there  from  Colon 
bringing  up  a  portion  of  this  dredging  plant  which  we  bought.  When 
it  left  Colon  it  had  Chagres  fever.  Some  four  or  tive  of  its  crew  were 
put  in  the  hospital  at  Colon  and  the  vessel  came  on  to  Greytown. 
When  it  arrived  there  it  had  six  or  eight  men  down  with  Chagres  fever, 
and  they  were  taken  out  and  put  into  our  hospital  and  treated,  and  none 
of  our  men  took  the  disease;  and  every  one  of  those  men  who  went  into 
the  iiosi)ital  was  cured  and  came  out,  and  every  one  who  Avent  into  the 
hospital  at  Colon  died.     That  is  the  only  record  we  have  of  that  matter. 

JNIr.  Patterson.  This  is  a  very  interesting  discussion,  and  I  make 
these  suggestions  so  as  to  get  the  important  facts  into  the  record? 

Mr.  Miller.  I  am  very  glad  to  have  you  make  them. 

Mr.  Patterson.  My  information  is  that  at  Panama,  both  on  the 
Atlantic  and  Pacilic  sides,  there  is  a  dead  calm,  and  trade  winds  are 
unknown  there,  whereas  at  Greytown  and  Brito,  on  the  Caribbean  Sea 
and  the  Pacitic,the  trade  winds  i)revail,  and  if  this  canal  is  constructed 
the  sailors  can  sail  through  this  canal  without  difdculty,  whereas  if  the 
canal  was  constructed  at  Panama,  even  if  it  was  possible  to  construct 
oiK!  there,  it  would  be  only  useful  for  steam  going  vessels,  for  the  reason 
that  there  is  a  dead  calm  on  both  sides  at  tliat  point? 

Mr.  Miller.  I  am  very  sorry  that  I  have  not  got  a  large  nmp  of 
Central  America  and  the  upper  part  of  South  America:  if  I  had  I 
would  show  yon  that  Panama  lies  in  a  great  bend  or  bay.  The  facts  are 
that  the  winds  do  not  reach  it,  and  trade  winds  do  not  prevail  there, 
and  that  is  undoubtedly  the  reason  why  the  fever  is  there,  as  it  is  not 
blown  away.  This  country  through  here  [illustrating]  is  the  lowest 
piece  of  land  there  is  in  Central  America.  The  trade  winds  blow  in 
there  every  day  in  the  year  and  dissipate  the  fevers  and  pass  through 
the  highlands.  When  we  come  to  the  Pacific  side,  the  wind  blows  in 
here,  and  right  here  at  San  Juan  del  Sur  is  the  summer  resort  for  people 
of  Nicaragua  who  come  there  for  health,  and  who  live  there  during  the 
hot  season,  showing  it  is  the  healthiest  place  there. 

Now,  as  to  the  possibility  of  sail  vessels  using  this  canal  and  not 
using  the  Panama,  if  it  was  built.  Lieutenant  Maury,  who  is  a  great 
authority  upon  the  geography  of  the  seas  and  winds  connected  with  it, 
lias  written  upon  this  subject,  and  a  gentleman  who  has  been  writing 
against  the  (tanal  and  who  has  given  as  one  of  the  chief  reasons  why  it 
should  not  be  built  because  it  could  never  be  used  by  sailing  vessels, 
has  quoted  Lieutenant  Maury  upon  this  question,  and  I  want  to  show 
you  how  he  has  been  quoted.  This  is  a  quotation  made  from  Lieutenant 
Maury.  He  says:  "  Should  nature  by  one  of  her  convulsions  rend  the 
American  continent  in  twain  and  make  a  channel  across  the  Isthmus  of 
Panama  or  Darien  as  deep,  as  wide,  and  as  free  as  the  straits  of  Dover, 
it  would  never  become  a  commercial  thoroughfare  for  sailing  vessels, 
saving  the  outward  bound  or  those  which  could  reach  it  with  leading 
winds."  Now,  Lieutenant  Maury  wrote  that,  but  the  gentleman  (] noting 
this  against  the  canal  did  not  quote  it  all.    Let  us  see  what  Lieutenant 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  29 

Maury  further  says  iu  this  same  article.  He  says:  "  We  come  now  to 
the  Nicaragua  route.  It  is  to  this  part  of  the  Isthmus  that  we  must 
look  for  a  route  that  shall  best  fulfill  the  requirements  of  commerce. 
A^essels  under  canvas  would,  in  the  main,  do  the  fetching-  and  carrying 
for  the  Nicaragua  route,  which,  for  reasons  already  stated,  they  can  not 
do  for  Panama.  The  aggregate  amount  of  this  trade  is  immense,  and 
it  is  neither  accommodated  for  Panama  nor  Panama  for  it."  (Sullivan's 
rei)ort  to  the  Navy  Department,  1883,  p.  148.) 

This  is  the  main  argument  made  against  the  canal.  Now,  in  regard 
to  this  question,  I  would  be  very  gkid  to  have  the  committee  call  some 
distinguished  officers — for  instance,  Admiral  Ammen,  who  is  80  years 
old,  but  is  a  man  who  knows  more  about  the  subject  than  all  the  rest 
of  us  and  understands  this  question  thoroughly,  or  Captain  Taylor,  who 
is  at  the  head  of  the  War  and  Navy  College  at  Providence,  P.  I.,  who 
has  written  very  much  upon  this  (piestiou  and  who  knows  it  thoroughly, 
or  any  of  your  naval  officers  who  are  familiar  with  this.  I  do  not  want 
to  talk  to  you  about  the  sailing  qualities  of  this  route,  because  I  am  not 
a  sailor,  and  I  take  my  views  very  much  from  the  statements  of  Admiral 
Ammen  and  Captain  Taylor  and  others ;  but  there  is  another  point  while 
I  an)  about  it,  and  that  is  the  Commission  questions  the  surveys  of  the 
river  and  lake.  Now,  these  surveys  were  not  made  by  our  company; 
they  were  made  by  the  United  States  Government,  under  Commander 
Luce,  and  the  lieutenant  in  charge  of  the  survey  was  a  lieutenant  named 
J.  W,  Miller,  now  retired  from  the  Navy  and  president  of  one  of  the 
leading  steamship  lines  running  from  New  York  up  the  coast  to  Provi- 
dence and  elsewhere.  He  ])ersonally  made  this  survey  during  the  years 
1872-73,  and  spent  a  long  time  there. 

I  woukl  like  to  have  this  committee  call  Lieutenant  Miller,  to  gain 
from  him  the  fact  whether  these  surveys  were  made  carefully  and 
whether  they  are  reliable.  They  were  made  by  a  naval  officer,  under  the 
direction  of  the  United  States  Government,  and  they  were  not  made 
in  the  interests  of  any  comjiany,  or  any  concession,  or  anything  else, 
because  there  was  none  in  existence.  They  were  made  carefully,  as 
honestly,  and  as  fairly  as  oflicers  of  the  Navy  could  make  them,  and 
we  claim  they  are  sufficient  for  all  preliminary  work  of  beginning  this 
canal  and  going  on  with  it.  The  whole  survey  of  this  lake  has  not 
been  made  to  obtain  its  depth  everyAvhere,  but  we  have  obtained  the 
depth  along  the  sailing  channel,  and  of  course  the  Government  event- 
ually, or  some  other  authority,  or  the  Nicaraguan  Government,  will 
undoubtedly  make  a  complete  survey  of  the  lake  and  take  soundings 
all  over  it,  so  you  will  have  a  chart  to  know  where  to  anchor  your  ships; 
but  I  submit  that  that  is  not  necessary  at  the  beginning.  I  think  it  is 
sufficient  to  know  the  depth  along  the  sailing  line. 

Mr.  Patterson.  You  know  it  will  float  all  the  navies  of  the  world? 

Mr.  Miller.  Yes,  sir;  I  know  that,  but  the  Commission  wants  this 
thing  delayed  eighteen  months  and  wants  $350,000  api)ropriated  by  the 
United  States  Government  to  send  out  a  commission  of  engineers  to 
make  these  surveys  during  the  eighteen  mouths.  Well,  $350,000  would 
put  quite  an  army  of  engineers  in  Nicaragua  and  keep  them  for  eighteen 
months,  but  we  submit  that  when  they  get  through  they  would  not  have 
anything  we  have  not  got  that  would  be  of  the  slightest  value.  Of 
course  it  would  delay  this  great  enterprise  for  that  length  of  time. 

I  have  talked  so  much  about  this  thing  all  over  the  United  States  that 
I  never  know  when  to  stop.  Now,  I  would  like  the  committee  to  ask  me 
any  questions  that  have  suggested  themselves  to  them  during  my  talk. 

Mr.  Patterson.  There  is  just  one  point  which,  in  the  beginning  of 


30  NICARAGUA   CANAL. 

your  discussion,  you  did  not  explain  fully.  My  understanding  is  that 
when  these  concessions  were  granted  by  Nicaragua  and  Costa  Kica  the 
arrangement  was  tliat  Nicaragua  was  to  have  $G,()Ol),0()0  of  stock  and 
be  represented  by  one  director,  and  Costa  liica  was  to  have  $1,500,000 
of  stock  and  be  represented  by  one  director? 

Mr.  MiLLEE.  That  is  correct;  that  is  the  agreement. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Now,  what  is  the  extent  of  the  right  of  way,  what 
is  the  width  of  tlie  ownership  of  the  canal? 

Mr.  Miller.  Well,  the  concession  carries  with  it  a  gift  of  something 
over  a  million  acres  of  land.  In  the  first  i)lace  we  are  permitted  to 
take  all  the  land  tliat  we  want  for  the  right  of  way,  be  it  more  or  less, 
that  is  through  the  public  lands,  but  upon  the  western  side  the  Gov- 
ernment was  to  lurnish  us  with  the  riglit  of  way  by  our  paying  them 
8r)0,000  in  gold,  which  we  paidthem,  audthenthey  weretoproceed  to  con- 
demn the  right  of  way  for  us.  I  think  it  is  not  all  condemned,  but  we 
paid  the  Nicaraguan  Government  $30,000  in  cash  and  they  have  con- 
demned a  i^ortion  of  it.  The  Government  is  to  furnish  the  right  of  way,  fi'ee 
otcourse,  over  the  public  lands,  and  we  take  all  we  want,  and  in  addition 
to  that  we  have  a  right  to  go  upon  the  public  lands  and  take  timber 
and  stone  and  help  ourselves  to  anything  we  can  find,  and  then  after 
the  canal  is  completed  we  are  to  have  a  million  acres  of  land  lying 
upon  the  line  of  the  canal,  in  alternate  sections,  the  Government  hold- 
ing one  and  the  company  the  next. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Then,  if  1  understand  you  correctly,  the  Maritime 
Canal  Company  owns  these  concessions? 

Mr.  Miller.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  PATTERS07-f.  And  the  present  owners  of  the  canal  company,  or 
rather  the  stockholders  of  this  construction  company,  have  expended 
something  over  $4,000,000  in  acquiring  these  concessions  and  in  the 
work  that  has  already  been  accomplished  on  the  canal? 

Mr.  Miller.  That  is  correct. 

Mr.  Patterson.  And  the  canal  company  now  controls  practically 
the  entire  stock,  amounting  to  $92,500,000,  and  it  owes  to  its  stock- 
holders the  amount  expended  on  the  work? 

,Mr.  Miller.  It  owes  this  amount  of  money  to  its  stockholders.  It 
has  not  any  debts  outside  at  all. 

Mr.  Patterson.  I  mean,  if  it  were  to  ])b.j  the  stockholders  this 
amount  of  money,  and  they  were  willing  to  give  it  up,  it  would  then 
have  stock  amounting  to  $02,500,000. 

Mr.  ]\riLLER.  Yes;  that  is  substantially  correct  as  it  is. 

Mr.  Sherman.  Was  there  some  provision  in  these  concessions  which 
made  them  nonassignable? 

Mr.  Miller.  They  can  not  be  assigned  to  any  Government,  but 
there  is  nothing  in  the  concessions  forbidding  their  being  assigned  from 
one  company  to  another  comi)any,  or  there  is  nothing  in  the  concession 
to  prevent  any  Government  holding  stock  in  them.  We  are  bound  to 
hold  the  lists  open  and  let  anvbody  subscribe,  but  the  Government  of 
Nicaragua  should  have  $0,000,000  and  Costa  Kica  $1,500,000  of  stock, 
and  then  the  United  States  or  any  other  Government  could  come  and 
buy  stock.  There  is  no  limit  or  control  upon  that  whatever,  but  we 
could  not  sell  this  out  to  any  Government.  Therefi)re,  the  necessity  of 
the  Government  building  this  canal  through  the  medium  of  a  company 
with  its  own  charter. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  I  w^ould  ask  you  to  have  something  to  s;iy  about  the 
probable  commerce  passing  through  this  canal.  There  have  been  some 
recent  publications  relative  to  that  ? 


NICARAGUA   CANAL.  31 

Mr.  Miller.  Yes ;  there  have  been  some  publications  rehitive  to  that, 
trying  to  show  it  wonkl  not  do  any  business;  yet  at  the  same  time  there 
have  been  pul>lications  emanating  from  the  transcontinental  railroads 
opposing  the  canal  upon  the  supposed  ground  that  it  would  take  the 
business  away  from  the  railroads.  Just  how  the  two  things  come 
together  1  do  uot  understand,  although  these  arguments  are  made  by 
the  same  party.  Now,  as  to  the  probable  commerce  of  this,  at  this  late 
hour  I  will  not  undertake  to  go  into  that  in  a  very  fall  and  elaborate 
manner,  but  I  want  to  call  the  attention  of  the  committee  to  this  report 
made  to  the  Senate  last  year,  and  there  you  will  find  the  views  of  the 
company  set  forth  in  lull,  with  an  article  prex)ared  by  our  secretary,  Mr. 
Atkins,  whicli  is  printed  here  in  fall. 

Mr.  Sherman.  What  page  is  it! 

Mr.  Miller.  It  commences  on  page  175.  You  will  find  it  a  very 
thorough  and  carefully  prepared  article.  I  will  do  nothing  more  than 
call  your  attention  to  the  results.  Now,  in  the  first  place,  the  Congress 
w^hich  met  in  Paris  in  1879,  over  whicli  Mr.  De  Lesseps  presided,  and  to 
which  conference  our  Government  sent  Admiral  Ammen  and  Engineer 
Meuocal  as  delegates,  was  composed  of  leading  engineers  of  Europe, 
and  found  that  the  canal  at  that  time  would  have  something  lilje 
5,000,000  or  6,000,000  tons  of  freight  to  begin  with.  Tliat  was  in  1879. 
This  report  made  here  takes  from  the  British  Board  of  Trade  the 
actual  commerce  of  the  world,  and  it  divides  it  into  that  portion  which 
^\'^ould  be  entirely  tributary  to  the  canal  and  that  which  would  be  liable 
to  be  inflaencedto  the  canal  anddrawu  toward  it,  and  it  is  accarate  as 
to  the  commerce  which  exists;  of  course,  no  one  can  undertake  to  say 
whether  it  will  all  go  through  the  canal. 

The  only  thing  we  can  say  is  that  commerce  seeks  the  shortest  line  and 
cheapest  route,  and  it  is  fair  to  infer  that  the  commerce  of  the  world  which 
wants  to  pass  from  the  Pacific  Ocean  to  the  Atlantic,  and  vice  versa,  and 
the  cheapest — whi<'h  can  be  accomplished  in  the  least  time — and  I  will 
from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  will  take  the  line  which  is  the  shortest 
simply  refer  you  to  this ;  but  1  simply  call  attention  to  what  it  sliow s.  It 
shows,  in  the  first  place,  the  class  which  is  entirely  tributary  to  the  canal — 
that  is  to  say,  which  would  ])ass  throngh  the  canal  if  it  sought  the 
shortest  and  clieapest  route — amounts  to  5,332,415  tons.  The  second 
class,  which  is  largely  tributary  to  it,  that  might  go  through  it  but  would 
not  find  as  much  profit  in  going  throngh  as  the  other  class,  amounts 
to  2,526,542  tons.  Then  comes  the  third  class  of  tonnage,  partially,  and 
only  partially,  tributary  to  it — such  tonnage  as  upon  the  west  coast  of 
South  America,  we  will  say  in  the  lower  part  of  Chile,  down  that  way, 
which  might  go  around  Cape  Horn  or  might  come  through  the  canal, 
depending  u])on  which  would  be  the  cheaper.  This  is  only  small, 
amounting  to  262,136  tons,  making  a  total  of  8,122,093  tons. 

Now,  that  takes  no  account  whatever  of  the  growth  of  commerce  by 
the  construction  of  the  canal;  and  let  me  say  here  that  these  figures 
correspond  substantially  with  the  estimates  made  by  the  French  engi- 
neers at  the  conference  in  1879,  adding  the  annual  growth  of  commerce 
from  tliat  time  to  this,  and  it  makes  substantially  the  same  figures  as 
ours.  But  if  there  was  not  but  a  million  tons  to-day  in  sight  that  would 
probably  go  through  the  canal,  I  undertake  to  say,  judging  from  the 
past,  that  within  ten  years'  time  from  the  construction  of  the  canal  it 
would  have  a  commerce  of  more  than  10,000,009  tons.  When  the  Suez 
Canal  was  opened  at  first  it  seemed  to  be  an  absolute  failure;  commerce 
still  continued  to  go  around  the  southern  point  of  Africa.  But  from 
year  to  year  it  began  to  gain,  until  to-day  it  (a  gentleman  gave  me  a 


32  NICARAGUA   CANAL. 

paniplilet  here  to-day  sliowing  the  last  report) — well,  it  does  not  matter 
as  to  gettiug  it  exactly,  but  the  returns  there  are  from  8,000,000  to 
12,000,000  and  13,000,000  tons  per  year,  and  the  receipts  are,  1  remem- 
ber, given  in  this  last  report,  $15,000,000;  and  after  paying  for  all  bet- 
terments and  all  commissions  which  they  are  comi)elled  to  pay  under 
their  concessions  and  under  their  rights,  it  left  a  dividend  upon  their 
stock  of  18  x>er  cent.  It  has  frequently  paid  20  per  cent,  and  the  stock 
has  been  as  high  as  7o0  in  Ptiris;  and  I  only  speak  of  this  to  show  you 
how  commerce  grows  when  you  open  a  new,  desirable,  and  cheap  way. 

In  the  Sault  ISte.  Marie  Canal,  before  the  Government  built  the  pres- 
ent lock,  there  was  a  private  lock  there.  The  largest  amount  of  com- 
merce passing  through  that,  I  believe,  was  about  500,000  tons.  The 
Government  built  a  lock — a  very  large  lock — sufticient  to  carrj^  several 
vessels  at  a  time;  and  what  has  been  the  result?  The  Sault  iSte.  Marie 
Canal  passed  last  year,  I  think,  over  17,000  craft  of  different  kinds 
and  something  like  12,000,000  to  15,000,000  tons  of  freight.  That  has 
all  been  created  since  the  lock  was  built.  People  did  not  go  into  tiie 
region  about  Duluth  until  there  was  means  of  transi)ortation,  and  when 
it  came  they  went  into  the  country  and  opened  w])  the  mines  and  iron 
ore  and  milling  business  and  wheat  business,  and  the  result  has  been 
the  stupendous  amount  of  material  which  passed  through  the  Sault. 

Mr.  DoOLiTTLE.  And  there  the  waters  are  closed  during  the  winter 
time? 

Mr.  Miller.  Yes,  it  only  runs  from  225  to  230  days  in  the  year. 
Now,  what  is  the  position  of  the  Pacific  Coast?  We  have  a  vast  terri- 
tory reaching  from  Mexico  to  British  Columbia.  It  has  the  finest 
climate  in  America,  and  it  has  the  nmst  fertile  land.  The  State  of 
Washington  or  the  State  of  Oregon  will  produce  all  the  wheat,  if  it  is 
cultivated,  that  this  country  requires  for  our  whole  70,000,000 peojde.  It 
is  estimated  that  the  Pacific  Coast  alone  is  capable  of  maintaining  a 
population  of  more  than  100,000,000,  but  it  has  less  poimlation  than  the 
cities  of  New  York  and  Brooklyn  combined,  and  why  ?  Simply  because 
the  material  which  it  produces  is  raw  material,  and  it  nuist  have  a  cheap 
and  quick  outlet  to  the  markets,  and  it  is  farther  from  the  markets  of 
the  world  to-day  than  any  other  civilized  portion  of  the  globe.  It  is 
14,500  miles  from  San  Francisco  to  New  York  by  water,  and  the  same 
distance,  or  a  little  more,  to  Liverpool,  whereas  India  and  Argentina  get 
their  wheat  into  the  Liverpool  market  in  less  than  a  quarter  of  the 
time  it  takes  from  San  Francisco  around  Cape  Horn,  and  the  result  has 
been  what?  The  country  is  left  vacant,  our  people  do  not  go  there. 
They  take  up  less  fertile  and  colder  ami  less  desirable  lauds. 

If  that  canal  were  opened,  the  raw  i)r()ducts  could  be  carried  to  the 
markets  of  the  world  at  rates  which  would  leave  a  fair  margin  of  profit 
to  the  prodncer.  If  it  is  done,  they  would  be  able  to  compete  with 
Argentina,  India,  and  Ivussia.  Unless  it  is  done,  the  export  of  wheat 
from  the  Pacific  Coast  will  substantially  cease  Avithin  five  years,  be- 
cause there  is  no  profit  in  it,  and  it  is  growing  less  and  less  because 
Argentina  is  being  developed.  Only  a  few  days  ago  I  was  talking  to 
the  secretary  of  our  legatiou  at  Argentina,  who  had  returned  on  a  visit 
home,  and  who  gave  me  an  account  of  the  railroads  and  opening  up  of 
that  country  and  develoi)ing  of  the  growth  of  wheat,  which  all  goes  to 
prove  this  work  must  be  done  and  done  speedily  if  the  Pacific  Coast  is 
to  be  developed.  Now,  the  lumber  and  timber  standing  in  the  States 
of  Oregon  and  Washington,  if  increased  25  cents  in  value  per  thousand, 
would  "more  than  i)ay  tlie  cost  of  building  this  canal  twice  over.  Within 
ten  years  the  Atlantic  Coast  must  have  this  timber.     As  everyone 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  33 

knows,  the  great  bulk  of  the  white  pine  of  Michigan,  Wisconsin,  and 
Minnesota  is  disappearing.  Ten  years  from  now  will  see  it  all  absolutely 
used  up  and  it  will  not  be  able  to  supply  the  demand  at  all. 

Some  two  or  three  years  ago  several  ships  laden  with  spars,  the  finest 
in  the  world  for  shipbuilding,  went  from  Puget  Sound  around  Cape 
Horn  to  Maine  and  went  into  ships  building  in  Maine.  The  shipbuild- 
ing timber  of  Maine  and  all  the  Eastern  coast  is  disappearing,  and  if 
the  canal  were  built  to  carry  the  raw  material,  which  can  not  be  carried 
by  railroads  successfully,  it  would  at  once  attract  a  large  population  to 
that  country.  I  have  no  doubt  it  would  double  within  live  years.  The 
railroads  who  are  fighting  this  enterprise,  and  believe  it  would  ruin 
them,  I  think  would  be  greatly  benefited  by  it,  because  the  business  of 
the  transcontinental  roads,  their  through  business,  has  never  been  any 
considerable  return  to  them — less  than  10  per  cent;  but  put  5,000,000  of 
people  upon  the  Pacific  Coast  and  the  local  business,  the  short  haul  of 
the  railroads  of  the  Pacific  Coast,  will  be  c[uadrupled,  and  the  profits  of 
these  roads  will  be  something  enormous.  I  refer  the  committee  to  this 
printed  report  here  for  exact  data.  I  am  speaking  now  entirely  upon 
what  I  believe  will  be  the  result,  and  as  to  the  exact  data  I  prefer  to 
have  the  committee  take  the  report  made  by  the  company  which  is,  in 
our  judgment,  correct. 

The  Chairman.  What  do  you  estimate  the  receipts  of  the  canal,  say, 
a  year  after  its  completion? 

Mr.  Miller.  Well,  we  believe  at  the  opening  of  the  canal  that  out 
of  this  5,000,000  or  6,000,000  tons  of  freight,  which  is  tributary  to  it, 
and  which  ought  to  go  through  it,  that  from  a  half  to  two-thirds  would  go 
through  it  at  once.  We  have  no  doubt  of  that  at  all.  And  in  the 
statement  which  I  made  to  the  committee  of  the  Senate  when  they 
changed  the  bill  and  substantially  took  control — took  ten  directors  and 
took  two-thirds  or  three-fourths  of  the  stock — I  based  the  results  upon 
these  figures.  Say,  4,000,000  tons,  at  $1,50  a  ton  toll — and  I  assume  the 
tolls  will  not  be  higher  than  that — although  the  Suez  Canal  when  it 
started  had  a  toll  of  $2.50  a  ton,  and  it  is  now  $1.85  or  $1.87;  but 
4,000,000  tons,  at  $1.50  a  ton,  would  be  a  great  inducement  for  freight 
to  come  that  way,  and  that  would  give  us  $6,000,000  on  4,000,000  tons. 

If  the  Government  were  to  guarantee  or  issue  $100,000,000  bonds  at 
3  per  cent,  the  result  would  be  as  this :  The  interest  would  be  $3,000,- 
000;  the  operating  and  maintenance  of  the  canal  will  be  $1,000,000. 
We  are  sure  that  is  quite  safe,  and  we  think  more  than  safe,  but  we  will 
call  it  $1,000,000.  That  brings  it  up  to  $4,000,000.  Then  $1,000,000 
put  in  a  sinking  fund  for  sixty  years — the  bonds  to  be  sixty  years  in 
length — and  $1,000,000  per  annum  added  to  the  sinking  fund  will  at  the 
expiration  of  sixty  years  have  paid  off  the  entire  debt.  One  million 
dollars  then  should  be  put  in  the  sinking  fund,  and  that  would  be 
$5,000,000,  and  that  would  have  to  be  paid  before  anything  came  to 
the  stock  at  all.  Then,  if  1  am  correct  in  supposing  4,000,000  tons 
might  pass,  there  would  be  $1,000,000  left  for  dividends  upon  the  stock, 
or  if  not,  even  if  it  were  to  take  two  or  three  years  to  arrive  at  that 
it  would  not  be  entirely  out  of  keeping  of  great  enterprises  of  this  kind, 
which  require  time. 

Now,  as  to  sailing  vessels  passing  through  it,  it  has  been  held,  I 
understand,  that  sailing  vessels  can  not  pass  through  it;  but  that  is  a 
mistake,  as  I  have  shown  you,  as  you  will  find  from  officers  of  the  Navy 
if  you  call  them,  and  I  am  frank  to  say  this,  that  one  of  the  first  and 
most  important  results  of  this  canal  would  be  the  abandonment  of  the 
building  o€  more  sailing  vessels  for  that  trade  which  is  now  carried 
N  c 3 


34  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

around  Cape  Horn.  Sail  vessels  will  not  be  bnilt  at  all.  The  vessels 
will  be  wliat  the  German  and  English  bnild,  called  tramp  steamers,  or 
trade  carriers  with  a  low  consumption  of  coal,  making  from  7  to  10 
knots  an  hour,  thus  nmking  the  trip  within  a  reasonable  length  of  time. 

Mr.  Scott,  manager  of  tlie  great  Union  Iron  Works  of  San  Francisco, 
stated  to  me  the  last  tiuie  I  was  there  that  when  this  canal  was  built 
there  were  not  half  shipyards  enough  in  the  United  States  to  build 
steamers  required  for  this  trade,  and  undoubtedly  the  business  would 
change  into  this  class  of  steam  carriers,  just  as  it  has  done  in  the  Suez 
Canal.  In  that  canal  when  it  began  there  were  quite  a  large  number 
of  sailing  vessels  which  went  through,  but  no  more  were  built.  Steam- 
ers came  in  their  place,  and  last  year  I  think  only  one  sailing  vessel 
went  through  the  Suez  Canal.  There  may  have  been  two  or  three,  but 
my  memory  is  not  jirecise  upon  that  question ;  but  certainly  not  more 
than  three,  four,  or  live  sailing  vessels  went  through.  The  whole  busi- 
ness has  been  transferred  to  the  steamers,  and  that  is  one  of  the  advan- 
tages, because  it  reduces  the  time,  and  the  cost  of  commerce  is  time  as 
well  as  in  anything  else;  because  it  necessitates  insurance  during  the 
time  the  produce  is  afloat. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  I  want  to  ask  you  what  difference  that  would  make 
in  marine  insurance,  if  you  have  investigated  that  at  all,  as  between 
going  through  this  canal  and  around  the  Horn? 

Mr.  IMiLLEE.  Well,  you  can  not  insure  a  vessel  to  go  around  the  Horn 
uidess  it  is  first-class;  there  is  no  marine  insurance  company  which 
will  take  it. 

Mr.  Bennett.  That  is  in  consequence  of  the  danger? 

Mr.  Miller.  In  consequence  of  the  danger.  Let  me  read  you  a  few 
words  from  Capt.  William  M.  Merry,  of  San  Francisco,  who  has  been  for 
many  years  a  navigator  around  Cape  Horn.     Captain  Merry  says: 

The  difficulties  of  the  Cape  Horn  route  Mr.  Nimrao  lightly  dismisses  as  of  no  con- 
Bequence,  as  he  may  safely  do  at  Huntington,  Long  Island.  When  I  recall  the  ter- 
rific gales,  the  heavy  seas,  the  sleet,  snow,  and  ice  encountered  during  the  eleven 
voyages  I  made  around  the  Cape,  I  can  realize  the  contempt  due  such  a  perversion 
of  the  truth.  No  vessel  is  insurable  at  usual  rates  by  marine  underwriters  for  the 
Cape  Horn  voyage  unless  she  rates  first-class,  and  the  class  of  ships  rounding  Cape 
Horn  is  the  largest  and  finest  in  the  world.  As  they  approach  the  Cape  they  are 
stripiied  of  all  light  yards  and  sails ;  prepared  for  a  severe  contest  with  the  elements, 
which  they  seldom  escape.  The  marine  annals  of  San  Francisco  are  a  lifelong  rec- 
ord of  disasters  off  Cape  Horn,  and  occasionally  an  able  ship,  tired  of  the  contest, 
with  crew  worn-out,  spars  and  sails  blown  away,  squares  oft^  away  for  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope,  to  reach  San  Francisco  by  a  route  fully  one-third  longer,  and  tempestuous 
at  that. 

Mr.  Corliss.  I  desire  to  ask  what  the  present  owners  are  to  accept 
under  this  plan,  $7,000,000  of  stock! 

Mr.  Miller.  There  is  no  plan  at  all,  sir. 

Mr.  Corliss.  Well,  it  has  been  before  us. 

Mr.  Miller.  What  I  stated  here  this  morning,  the  answer  I  gave  to 
the  Senate  committee — you  perhaps  were  not  in  at  the  time,  but  I  will 
repeat  it — we  were  asked  by  the  Senate  committee  several  years  ago 
upon  what  terms  we  would  allow  the  United  States  Government  to 
come  in  and  control  this  enterprise  through  the  company,  and  after 
consultation  with  the  leading  directors  and  stockholders  I  made  this 
statement,  that  the  Government  might  take  the  compajiy,  taking  two- 
thirds  of  its  directors,  to  be  appointed  by  the  President,  and  taking 
two-thirds  or  three-fourths  of  the  stock  in  the  Treasury  of  the  United 
States,  taking  absolute  control  of  it  if  they  would  return  to  us  the 
amount  of  money  that  we  had  expended  upon  it,  which  we  stated  to  be 
in  round  figures  about  $4,500,000,  and  that  in  addition  to  that  they 


NICARAGUA   CANAL.  35 

should  give  us  of  the  stock  of  the  maritime  compauy  whatever  they 
thought  we  were  entitled  to  for  our  services,  for  our  energy,  and  time  in 
holding  this  thing  and  risks  we  had  taken  in  it,  and  that  we  would 
submit  ourselves  to  the  justice  of  Congress  upon  that  question  as  to 
wliat  it  should  be. 

As  to  the  amount  of  money  that  we  had  expended,  we  would  submit 
that  to  a  commission  to  be  appointed  in  any  way  that  might  be  agreed, 
only  that  one  of  our  comijany  might  be  there  to  see  justice  was  done, 
and  one  to  be  appointed  by  the  President,  and  if  those  two  did  not 
agree,  why  those  two  should  select  the  third,  and  that  whatever  they 
found  we  had  actually  expended  should  be  retiurned  to  us  in  cash  or  its 
equivalent  in  bonds.  That  j)roposition  was  made  to  the  committee,  and 
that  is  the  only  proposition  we  have  made;  and  as  to  the  expenditures, 
we  have  preserved  all  of  the  books  of  the  company  and  all  the  vouchers 
and  all  the  tiles  of  all  kinds  and  of  every  name  and  nature,  and  we  can 
show  to  the  commission  or  to  a  committee  or  to  anybody  everything 
that  we  have  expended  and  what  it  was  expended  for. 

It  is  unnecessary,  it  seems  to  me,  that  this  committee,  or  any  com- 
mittee in  Congress,  should  go  into  the  details  of  that,  because  it  would 
be  endless,  as  it  would  include  five  years  of  work  and  thousands  of 
vouchers  and  thousands  of  items,  but  they  are  all  there  and  can  be 
shown.  We  should,  of  course,  expect  to  be  paid  for  all  moneys  we 
have  expended  in  what  might  be  called  promoting  the  work.  That 
is  to  say,  I  have  spent  three  years  of  time  in  going  to  different  parts 
of  the  world  speaking  upon  this  and  writing  upon  it,  but  the  promotion 
work  has  been  comparatively  small,  comparatively  a  few  thousand  dol- 
lars in  comparison  with  the  work  we  have  done;  but  that  was  necessary 
to  bring  the  enterprise  before  the  world  and  have  them  understand  it. 
We,  fortunately,  have  never  expended  any  money  in  Washington  except 
our  own  traveling  exi^enses,  and  that  has  been  charged  up,  and  the 
expenses  of  our  own  attorneys  in  New  York  who  have  come  down  here 
to  express  to  the  committee  just  the  legal  condition  of  affairs.  We 
have  not  any  $2,000,000  or  $3,000,000  to  account  for  as  expended  in 
legislative  work;  we  have  not  done  anything  of  the  kind.  W^e  have 
not  had  it  to  expend,  and  would  not  have  spent  it  if  we  had  had  it. 

All  of  our  accounts  will  be  open  if  it  is  done,  and  I  want  to  simply  say 
this,  and  I  want  to  repeat  what  I  said  this  morning:  As  the  matter 
stands  now  we  are  prevented  from  getting  any  money  or  doing  anything 
with  it,  and  of  course  we  may  be  compelled — gentlemen  who  have  put 
their  time  and  money  into  this  thing — to  lose  it  all ;  but  if  we  do  that 
we  shall  do  it  without  complaint,  for  I  say  for  myself  I  have  never  been 
engaged  in  a  work  that  was  likely  to  be  of  so  much  benefit  to  the  whole 
worlcl,  particularly  to  my  own  country,  as  this,  but  we  feel  now  that  in 
some  means  or  in  some  way  Congress  ought  to  say,  "We  will  take  this 
work  off  your  hands  upon  the  terms  proposed,"  or  "We  do  not  want  it 
at  all,"  and  then  give  us  a  clear  field,  and  if  we  can  not  make  anything 
out  of  it  and  get  the  money  outside  we  will  simply  retire  beaten  and  let 
some  others  undertake  it.  That  is  the  way  we  feel  about  it.  I  am  not 
finding  any  fault  with  Congress  at  all.  I  have  been  here  myself  as  a 
member  of  both  Houses,  and  I  know  the  difticulty  of  doing  a  great  work 
of  this  kind,  and  I  know  there  are  a  great  many  men  in  Congress  who 
honestly  believe  the  G-overnment  ought  not  to  have  anything  to  do  with 
it,  that  it  is  an  outside  affair,  and  it  is  all  wrong  and  should  not  be 
touched,  and  I  appreciate  all  that,  and  I  know  they  are  honest  in  that, 
although  I  do  not  agree  with  them  myself,  but  we  understand  all  that 
difficulty  and  have  no  fault  to  find  at  all. 


36  NICARAGUA   CANAL. 

The  gentlemen,  particularly  in  the  Senate,  who  have  been  working  on 
tbis  for  years,  making  it  you  miglit  say  a  hobby,  attempting  to  get  it 
tlirough,  have  treated  us  with  all  fairness  and  we  hav^e  no  complaint  to 
make,  and  so  far  as  the  House  is  concerned  this  is  the  first  time  I  ever 
appeared  before  any  committee  having  anything  to  do  with  the  ques- 
tion, and  we  have  no  complaint  to  make  here  in  any  way,  shai)e,  or 
manner,  but  we  do  feel  we  have  the  right  now  to  ask  that  we  know 
whether  the  Government  is  going  to  take  the  work  and  carry  it  through 
to  success  or  else  that  the  Government  shall  in  some  way  indicate  to 
the  world  at  large  its  decision  not  to  have  anything  to  do  with  it 
because  it  does  not  think  it  wise,  or  ought  not  to  be  done  by  our  Gov- 
ernment, and  leave  us  free  to  go  over  the  world  and  get  what  money 
we  can  get  to  carry  on  this  work.  We  certainly  shall  never  give  it  up 
until  our  concessions  shall  expire,  and  we  hope  in  some  way  to  carry  it 
to  success. 

Mr.  Sherman.  How  long  do  your  concessions  run? 

Mr.  MiLLEii.  Our  concessions  were  for  ten  years,  and  three  years 
remain,  and  then  we  have  the  right  to  ten  years  additional,  making 
twenty  years  in  all,  which  makes  thirteen  years  in  which  we  have  yet 
to  complete  the  work. 

Mr.  Corliss.  Are  any  of  the  terms  of  the  concessions  such  as  would 
compel  the  paying  of  a  revenue  to  ISTicaragua  and  Costa  Eica? 

Mr.  Miller.  Not  unless  they  get  dividends  on  the  stock.  They 
stand  like  any  other  stockholder.  Nicaragua  has  $6,000,000  of  stock 
and  Costa  Rica  $1,500,000  stock,  and  if  dividends  are  made  of  course 
they  would  get  their  pro  rata. 

Mr.  Corliss.  But  there  is  nothing  to  prevent  their  being  paid  off 
and  the  United  States  having  a  majority  of  the  stock  simxjiy  charge 
nothing  for  maintenance'? 

Mr.  Miller.  Of  course  the  United  States  can  from  the  beginning,  if 
they  saw  fit,  pay  interest  on  the  bonds  and  make  the  canal  free  at  any 
time,  or  make  the  tolls  a  dollar  to  begin  with,  or  a  half  dollar,  or  any- 
thing it  likes.  If  they  control  the  business  they  can  do  that,  and  I 
presume  the  Government,  after  getting  revenue  sufficient  to  pay  interest 
on  the  bonds,  would  probably  reduce  the  tolls  materially,  and  that  of 
course  is  one  reason  why  the  stock  we  might  get  as  compensation  for 
our  services  would  be  worth  very  little,  because  it  would  depend  entirely 
upon  whether  the  Government  is  going  to  reduce  the  tolls,  but  it  is  fair 
to  assume  the  Government  is  going  to  treat  us  properly  and  would  not 
reduce  the  tolls  to  where  nothing  would  be  paid  upon  the  stock,  because 
if  it  did  it  would  not  be  justified  as  far  as  Nicaragua  and  Costa  Eica 
are  concerned.  It  Avould,  injustice  to  them,  have  to  compensate  them 
and  pay  them  5  or  6  per  cent  dividend  on  their  stock.  I  assume  it 
would  not  do  anything  else  and  would  not  treat  Nicaragua  and  Costa 
Eica  in  that  way,  and  it  j)robably  would  not  treat  its  own  citizens  any 
worse  than  it  did  them.     At  all  events  we  would  rest  our  case  there. 

Mr.  Sherman.  I  understand  the  proposed  tolls  are  $1.50  a  ton? 

Mr.  Miller.  Of  course  no  action  has  ever  been  had  upon  that. 
Originally,  when  it  was  first  started,  it  was  assumed  $13.50  a  ton,  because 
Suez  charged  that  at  first,  but  there  was  so  much  business  it  found  it 
profitable  to  reduce  the  tolls  to  $1.85  a  ton,  and  I  have  not  any  doubt 
at  all  but  what  this  company  would  start  its  tolls  at  $1.50  a  ton.  That 
would  be  my  judgment  and  desire,  and  if  I  was  in  control  at  the  time 
I  would  have  something  to  say  about  it. 

Mr.  Sherman.  The  i)robable  tonnage  would  unquestionably  yield  a 
sufticient  revenue  to  pay  the  interest  upon  these  bonds  and  also  provide 
a  sinking  fund  for  them? 


NICARAGUA   CANAL.  37 

Mr.  Miller.  We  have  no  doubt  about  that  at  all.  If  I  had  as  much 
money  as  some  one  or  two  men  in  this  country  have  I  would  build  the 
canal  out  of  my  annual  revenues.  There  are  half  a  dozen  men  who 
could  build  it  out  of  their  annual  revenues  and  have  the  best  canal  in 
the  world,  but  the  diftlculty  now  among  our  American  people  is  just 
what  1  have  expressed;  that  is,  people  say  the  Government  ought  to 
control  it,  and  therefore  the  Government  ought  to  pay  for  it,  but  we 
can  not  do  anything  until  Congress  has  decided  to  take  it,  or  decided 
they  will  not  have  anything  to  do  with  it;  and  if  Congress  decides  that, 
I  sliall  make  a  vigorous  appeal  to  the  people  of  America  to  get  the 
money  to  enable  us  to  make  it  a  success,  and  if  that  fails  I  will  retire 
and  let  somebody  else  take  it  up  after  me. 

Mr.  Wanger.  Did  I  understand  you  to  say  that  what  you  call  the 
promoting  exi)enses  had  been  charged  up? 

iMr.  Miller.  They  are  a  part  of  the  expenses;  for  instance,  my  ex- 
penses of  traveling  over  the  country  and  publishing  pamphlets  and 
things  of  that  kind.  We  have  not  paid  the  press  of  this  country  any- 
thing, and  I  am  frank  to  say  the  press  of  this  country  have  published  arti- 
cles regarding  it;  in  fact,  they  have  come  to  us  and  asked  them  and 
printed  them,  and  there  is  no  expense  attending  the  press  of  this  country 
except  the  mere  notices  of  our  annual  meetings,  that  is  all,  which  we 
])aid  for  as  any  other  amount  due;  otherwise  the  American  press  have 
given  us  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars  worth  of  advertisement, 
w  hich  would  have  been  charged  for  ordinarily,  in  so  far  as  arguments 
in  favor  of  the  canal  are  concerned.  That  has  been  so  all  over  the 
country  and  we  have  to  acknowledge  that. 

^Ir.  Sherman.  I  understand  the  percentage  of  the  whole  expense  is 
very  trifling  1 

Mr.  Miller.  It  is  a  very  small  percentage  of  the  total — probably  it 
might  be  5  per  cent.  It  is  what  has  been  done  in  every  enterprise,  rail- 
road or  otherwise,  and  is  a  legitimate  charge, 

Mr.  Ellett.  I  would  like  to  know  whetli  the  terms  of  the  Mahon 
bill — I  have  not  been  here  during  all  of  your  speech — are  objectionable? 

Mr.  Miller.  I  have  not  read  the  bill  at  all,  or  looked  at  it.  I  simply 
stated  what  our  proposition  was  to  the  Government.  Any  bill  which 
carries  that  out,  why,  we  will  undoubtedly  accept,  but  I  have  never  read 
any  portion  of  the  other  and  do  not  care  to. 

Thereujion  the  committee  went  into  executive  session. 


Washington,  D.  C,  Tuesday^  April  1, 1896. 
The  committee,  having  under  consideration  the  aSTicaragua  Canal, 
met  at  11  a.  m.,  Hon.  William  P.  Hepburn,  chairman. 

STATEMENT  OF  CAPT.  H.  C.  TAYLOR,  OF  NEWPORT,  R.  I.,  PRESI- 
DENT OF  THE  NAVAL  WAR  COLLEGE. 

The  Chairman.  There  are  three  propositions  up  here  upon  which  we 
wish  nyore  particularly  to  get  information.  One  is  the  practicability  of 
the  Nicaragua  Canal;  another  is  the  probable  accuracy  of  the  estimates 
made  by  the  company;  and  the  third  is  the  probable  use  of  the  canal, 
as  measured  by  the  tonnage. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  I  would  like  to  add  that  we  expected  to  have  Pro 
ies.nr  ]Meuocal  before  the  committee  this  morning,  and  I  have  received 
a  D{.te  from  t)ie  Acting  Secretary  saying  that  Professor  Menocal  would 


38  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

be  unable  to  appear  to-day;  but  lie  lias  submitted  a  paper  which  goes 
over  the  surveys,  and  answers  completely  all  the  objections  and  criti- 
cisms ottered  by  the  recent  Commission,  consisting  of  Engineer  Ludlow 
and  others,  wiio  visited  the  canal.  We  have  the  letters  of  other 
experts  in  this  statement  made  by  Professor  Menocal.  Professor  Men- 
ocal  states  that  he  hopes  to  be  her'e  within  a  week  from  this  time  to 
answer  such  questions  as  the  members  of  the  committee  may  desire  to 
aslv  him. 

The  Chairman.  I  do  not  wish  to  dictate  the  line  of  Captain  Taylor's 
speech,  but  I  suggested  such  facts  as  perhaps  the  members  of  the  com- 
mittee desire  to  hear. 

Mr.  Wanger.  I  would  like  to  have  Captain  Taylor  tell  us  all  of  the 
facts  within  his  personal  observation. 

Captain  Taylor.  As  to  the  practicability  of  the  canal,  as  has  been 
stated  by  Mr.  Doolittle,  Mr.  Menocal  has  a  reply,  of  wliich  I  knew 
before  I  came  here,  and  which  I  believe  to  be  very  full.  I  have  never 
taken  that  part  in  this  enterprise  which  would  enable  me  to  give  you 
any  remarks  as  regards  the  engineering  details.  I  was  for  many  years 
engaged,  with  the  consent  of  the  Government,  being  on  leave  from  the 
Navy  Department,  in  promoting  the  enterprise  in  New  York,  and  I 
became,  in  1885  or  1880,  vice-president  and  general  manager  of  the 
company,  and  continued  this  service  until  the  time  came  for  me  to  again 
take  a  ship,  when  I  resigned  and  went  to  China  in  command  of  a  vessel. 
On  returning,  I  found  that,  owing  to  the  general  depression  in  business, 
the  enterprise  was  flagging.  I  have  given  great  attention  to  what  you 
might  call  the  general  aspects  of  the  enterprise. 

The  chairman  first  mentioned  the  question  of  practicability.  This 
question  will  be  answered  by  the  paper  of  Mr.  Menocal.  Its  practi- 
cability has  been  conceded  since  1809  continuously,  and  it  was  discussed 
before  that  from  the  days  of  Cortez ;  but  since  1809  it  has  been  discussed 
practically,  and  whenever  a  doubt  has  arisen  as  to  the  location,  the 
Government  has  sent  surveying  parties  there.  As  to  the  matter  of 
cost,  I  think  you  can  say  that  everybody  may  be  right  in  the  opinions 
expressed  upon  the  subject.  It  is  possible,  if  we  wished  to  do  so,  to 
spend  $12(),()0(),0()0  or  $130,000,000  in  building  that  canal.  Under  cer- 
tain circumstances  that  much  could  be  spent;  but  under  judicious  and 
wise  management  the  figures  that  we  had  from  parties  not  personally 
interested  in  the  canal  would  make  it  cost  not  above  885,()0(>,000.  The 
company  estimated  that  it  could  be  built  for  $05,000,000,  but  they  chose 
to  put  that  figure  up  in  order  to  take  the  verdict  of  those  who  were 
nonpartisan.  At  the  same  time  many  persons  who  are  not  otherwise 
concerned  in  it,  such  as  contractors  and  others,  as  well  as  Captain 
Webb,  the  veteran  shipbuilder,  who  as  long  ago  as  1850  became  inter- 
ested in  the  Nicaragua  Canal,  said  that  they  would  be  glad  to  take  the 
contract  and  make  a  profit  out  of  it  at  $15,000,000  to^$50,000,000.  I 
make  these  statements  to  show  the  range  of  opinion  upon  the  question 
of  cost.  If  you  were  to  build  double  locks,  if  you  would  widen  the  rock 
cut  from  80  to  120  feet,  and  much  else  of  the  same  sort,  then  you  might 
run  the  cost  up  to  $90,000,000. 

The  chairman  mentioned  something  about  the  probability  of  the  work 
being  done  and  completed  on  the  estimates.  That  is  also  covered  by 
what  I  have  stated.  In  reference  to  the  use  of  the  canal,  it  is  a  thing 
to  which  I  have  given  a  good  deal  of  attention  and  thought.  Its  use 
will  be  both  national  and  international.  It  will  be,  as  we  believe,  a 
great  factor  in  getting  our  flag  flying  ui)on  deep  water  ships,  and  in 
taking  an  intervening  step,  as  it  were,  to  deep-sea  commerce  by  first 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  39 

establishing-  a  coastwise  commerce  in  deep-sea  ships.  In  other  words, 
ships  which  clear  from  New  York  or  New  Orleans  for  Puget  Sonnd  or 
San  Francisco  will  be,  you  may  say,  coastwise  commerce,  and  yet  they 
will  go  through  that  canal,  and  in  order  to  reach  it  will  require  to  be 
deep-sea  ships.  By  such  means  it  is  hoj^ed  that  we  will  see  a  new  birth 
of  American  shipping  on  the  high  seas. 

In  looking  at  the  map,  it  appears  among  other  things  that  the  nation 
occupying  the  North  American  Continent  should  naturally  be  the  one 
to  carry  all  the  commerce  that  passes  between  Asia  and  Europe  by  way 
of  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  oceans.  In  order  to  show  the  shortest  route 
across  the  North  Pacific  between  our  coast  and  Yokahama  and  Hong- 
kong, an  accurate  chart  of  distances  is  necessary.  The  rectangular  or 
Mercator's  projection  is  familiar  in  maps  of  everyday  use,  but  it  fails  in 
that  it  shows  the  shortest  distance  as  apj^arently  curved.  I  think  we 
all  recognize  that  as  true,  and  that  we  must  go  up  to  the  northern  lati- 
tudes in  order  to  get  the  shortest  distances.  Nevertheless,  I  find  that 
many  shipowners,  men  who  have  been  engaged  in  shipping  all  their 
lives,  do  not  fully  realize  that  idea,  because  the  graphic  representation 
of  distances  across  the  sea  has  not  been  properly  presented  to  them. 
Concerning  the  business  of  the  Nicaragua  Canal  and  the  trade  thence 
to  China  and  Japan,  the  commercial  world  is  much  deceived,  because 
it  has  not  that  proper  graphic  representation  of  great  circle  routes. 

I  will  send  your  committee  to-morrow  some  charts  published  by  the 
Government,  which  show  by  means  of  the  guomonic  projection  the 
shortest  distance  as  a  straight  line.  It  indicates  also  in  a  general  way 
the  commerce  which  will  go  through  the  Nicaragua  Canal  in  future. 
It  has  been  claimed  by  opponents  of  the  canal  that  vessels  from  the 
canal  passing  across  the  Pacific  to  China  and  Japan  would  pass  at  once 
toward  Honolulu  and  away  from  our  Pacific  coast,  leaving  our  Pacific 
cities  far  away  from  the  line  of  sea  trade.  Indeed,  when  I  arrived  from 
China  at  San  Francisco  some  years  ago,  I  found  that  placards  had  been 
posted  in  various  public  places,  saying  that  if  the  Nicaragua  Canal  were 
built  the  trade  would  be  diverted  from  the  Pacific  coast,  and  the  grass 
w^ould  be  growing  in  the  streets  of  San  Francisco  a  few  years  after  the 
canal  was  completed. 

This  statement  is  absolutely  contrary  to  the  facts  of  the  case,  and 
upon  it  much  misconception  has  been  based.  The  Pacific  coast,  after 
leaving  the  canal,  trends  so  much  to  the  westward  that  vessels  would 
not  in  any  case  depart  far  from  it  until  between  Acapulco  and  Mazat- 
lan.  Taking  Mazatlan  for  example,  we  find  the  shortest  distance  line 
thence  to  Yokohama  or  Hongkong  passes  at  no  great  distance  from 
San  Francisco  and  other  California  ports,  which  would  present  most 
favorable  conditions  of  coaling  and  cargoes  to  the  great  lines  of  freight 
steamers  that  are  to  use  the  canal.  I  therefore  say  that  the  natural 
route  from  Liverpool  and  New  York  to  China  and  Japan,  via  the  Nic- 
aragua Canal,  will  be  directly  along  the  Pacific  coast.  There  would  not 
be  a  great  divergence  in  touching  at  any  Pacific  port  of  the  United 
States.  This  line  will  naturally  touch  at  or  near  the  Aleutian  group  of 
islands,  where  a  coaling  station  can  be  i^laced.  The  development  of 
trade  on  the  Pacific  coast  will  be  assisted  by  the  Nicaragua  Canal. 
Part  of  the  trade  between  Yokohama  and  Shanghai  will  be  assisted. 

Another  point  to  be  considered  is  that  steamers  must  make  their  trips 
short  in  order  that  they  may  carry  only  a  small  amount  of  coal,  so  as  to 
not  infringe  unduly  upon  the  space  allotted  to  cargo.  For  this  reason, 
vessels  from  London  going  by  the  Suez  Canal  all  follow  lines  where  they 
can  stop  frequently  in  order  not  to  interfere  with  the  cargo  by  taking 


40  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

]ar^(i  quantities  of  coal  al)oard  and  for  the  local  cargo  business  as  well, 
1  mention  tliis  to  show  that  it  is  natnral  that  this  should  be  done  upon 
routes  which  will  use  the  ^Nicaragua  Canal.  Puget  Sound  and  the  Aleu- 
tian group  will  give  other  coaling  stations  and  new  cargoes  to  the  north 
and  west,  and  sailing  from  the  Aleutian  grouj)  to  Hakodadi,  Yokohama, 
and  Shanghai  we  have  a  route  as  favorable  as  any  that  could  be 
arranged,  even  if  you  could  select  the  ports  and  place  them  at  the  points 
desired. 

These  facts  are  not  understood,  I  believe,  by  nine-tenths  of  the  busi- 
ness men,  nor  by  ninety-nine  out  of  every  hundred  people  of  less  educa- 
tion, and  one  of  the  immediate  results  of  this  ignorance  is  seen  in  the 
newspaper  statements  to  the  effect  that  the  American  continent  will  be 
left  out  of  the  current  of  trade  passing  from  Europe  to  Asia  by  way  of 
the  i«Iicaragua  Canal.  If  I  have  made  myself  clear  in  this  respect,  I 
think  I  have  done  as  much  as  I  can  now  do  without  the  ligares  neces- 
sary to  discuss  matters  more  in  detail  before  your  honorable  committee. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Can  you  give  us  the  figures  in  reference  to  the  tou- 
nage  of  the  canal? 

Captain  Tayloe.  I  made  most  of  the  older  estimates  myself,  but  1 
have  not  them  with  me.  I  would  be  very  glad  to  send  them  to  your 
committee.  I  can  say,  within  wide  limits,  without  figuring  on  anything 
which  would  be  brought  into  existence  by  the  canal,  but  which  would 
need  the  canal  as  soon  as  it  was  built,  in  order  to  bring  the  right  result 
in  somewhere  between  our  figures.  In  1888  we  made  figures  for  181)5, 
the  time  when  we  expected  the  canal  to  be  completed,  and  we  estimated 
a  maxinuim  of  8,000,000  tons  without  knowing  what  would  be  the 
exact  tolls  per  ton,  and  so  we  figured  upon  those  charged  in  the  Suez 
Canal,  which  were  in  the  neighborhood  of  $1.50  per  ton.  We  based  our 
figures  on  various  sources — the  trafOc  around  Cape  Horn ;  up(m  that 
between  New  Orleans,  New  York,  and  Callao,  and  other  points  in  west- 
ern South  America;  upon  a  certain  amount  of  traffic  between  New  York 
and  San  Francisco,  Seattle,  and  San  Diego,  and  ujjon  an  almost  imme- 
diate trade  between  New  Orleans  and  the  points  in  that  neighborhood. 
We  included,  I  think,  such  trade  as  might  go  from  New  York  to  Yoko- 
hama, and  from  Liverpool  to  Seattle  and  Tacoma,  and  from  San  Fran- 
cisco to  Liverpool. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  You  have  not  reckoned  any  wheat  from  the  State  ot 
Washington  at  Puget  Sound? 

Captain  Taylor.  The  figures  included  the  wheat  from  San  Francisco. 
I  can  not  remember  as  to  Seattle.  The  figures  include  some  lumber 
shipped  from  Puget  Sound. 

Mr.  Bennett.  What  would  be  the  probable  cost  per  annum  of  main- 
tenance of  this  canal'? 

Captain  Taylor.  It  would  be  about  $1,500,000  per  year.  That  was 
about  our  figure. 

Mr.  Bennett.  You  say  that  you  estimate  the  maxinuim  figure  of  the 
cost  of  the  canal  at  $85,000,000? 

Captain  Taylor.  The  board  made  an  estimate  of  $87,000,000.  This 
estimate  was  absolutely  unprejudiced,  but  we  thought,  and  I  believe  the 
company  still  thinks,  that  the  canal  can  be  built  for  $05,000,(100. 

Mr.  Bennett.  And  you  give  the  maximum  cost  of  running  the  canal 
at  $1,500,000? 

Captain  Taylor.  We  saw  no  reason  to  put  it  above  $750,000 ;  but  we 
chose  to  do  so,  basing  it  on  the  Suez  Canal,  which  has  had  a  large  expense 
because  of  the  drifting  sand,  from  which  the  Nicaragua  Canal  would  be 
free. 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  41 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  I  want  you  to  explain  the  effect  of  tlie  doldrums  at 
Panama? 

Captain  Taylor.  The  doldrums  extend  north  and  south  of  the  equa- 
tor. They  vary,  and,  according  as  the  sun  goes  north  and  south  in  dec- 
lination, the  belt  moves  north  and  south.  The  heart  of  that  belt  seems 
to  be  a  little  north  of  the  equator  and  it  includes  Panama.  Speaking 
only  from  memory,  this  belt  of  calms  covers  the  Panama  Canal  line  dur- 
ing about  ten  months  of  every  year,  during  which  time  the  light  and 
variable  winds  make  it  diflScult  for  sailing  ships  to  move.  The  Nica- 
ragua Canal  may  be  said  to  be  outside  of  that  belt,  and  during  ten 
months  of  the  year  they  have  breezes  such  as  to  enable  sailing  vessels 
to  approach  or  leave  the  harbors  on  both  sides  of  the  isthmus.  The 
northeast  trade  wind,  blowing  from  about  east  by  north  at  Greytown, 
is  nearly  an  on-shore  wind  at  Greytown,  but  sailing  vessels  would 
rarely  have  difficulty  in  clawing  offshore,  and  then  towboats  would 
always  be  at  hand. 

Mr.  Wanger.  What  distance  would  towage  be  required? 

(captain  Taylor.  In  this  case  the  maximum  would  be  6  or  8  miles. 
I  have  been  on  both  sides  in  sailing  shijjs  and  steamers,  and  there  was 
no  time  when  I  felt  that  I  would  be  delayed  more  than  a  day  or  two.  I 
was  speaking  only  of  the  fi-esh  breezes  blowing  on  shore,  which,  not 
being  gales  of  wind,  are  what  sailing  vessels  like.  Vessels  only  need  an 
ofting  from  the  breakwater  3  or  4  miles. 

Mr.  Bennett.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  can  sailing  vessels  afford  to  pay 
$1.50  per  ton  for  going  through  the  canal"? 

Captain  Taylor.  Yes,  sir;  and  make  a  large  amount  of  money,  rather 
than  go  around  Cape  Horn. 

The  Chairman.  I  think  it  has  been  stated  that,  with  this  canal, 
sailing  vessels  may  be  done  away  with. 

Captain  Taylor.  They  will  not  grow  less,  nor  pass  away,  but  their 
relative  imj)ortance  will  grow  less,  because  of  the  greater  number  of 
steamers.  The  tonnage  of  sailing  vessels  will  not  diminish,  but  where 
one  will  be  seen  in  the  canal  per  day  there  will  be  twenty  or  thirty 
steamers.  There  are  many  remarks  that  might  be  made  as  regards  the 
use  of  the  canal  which  one  could  occupy  days  in  discussing,  but  I  think 
what  the  committee  wanted  me  to  touch  upon  more  than  anything  else 
was  the  points  upon  which  some  objection  has  been  made  to  the  canal 
and  to  which  some  reply  could  be  made. 

Various  matters  of  great  interest  will  follow  the  construction  of  the 
canal.  One  is  the  question  of  a  great  tropical  metropolis  which  may 
be  expected  to  arise  in  Central  America  upon  or  near  the  canal.  This, 
of  course,  is  in  the  realm  of  fancy;  it  is  coming,  but  when  we  can  not 
tell. 

One  of  the  gentlemen  of  the  committee  wished  me  to  say  something 
about  the  military  and  naval  aspect  of  the  question.  I  have  the  per- 
mission of  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  to  appear  before  you  and  state, 
so  far  as  I  can,  what  you  wish  to  know  about  it.  The  question  has 
been  raised  in  the  newspapers  of  late  that  if  this  canal  be  owned  by 
the  United  States,  or  controlled  by  our  Government,  there  will  be  a 
great  deal  of  trouble  to  retain  it;  that  foreign  jiowers  with  superior 
fleets  will  attack  it,  and  that  we  will  be  compelled  to  use  a  large  force, 
and  that  in  favoring  this  canal  we  will  be  building,  or  helping  to  build, 
something  that  will  weaken  us;  and  that  the  position  of  the  canal  will 
be  a  dangerous  and  isolated  one.  I  do  not  think  that  that  can  be 
answered  or  intelligently  discussed,  because  it  is  according  to  one's 
point  of  view.    It  is  something  like  the  objections  which  may  be  made 


42  NICARAGUA   CANAL. 

to  the  accumulation  of  wealth  for  fear  it  will  be  stolen,  or  like  objec- 
tions to  the  acquiring  of  a  handsome  house  because  it  might  be  burned 
down,  or  because  it  would  give  more  or  less  trouble  to  keep  in  order. 
I  do  not  know  how  to  answer  that  question  in  any  other  way.  The 
canal  will  be  a  most  valuable  possession  to  that  country  that  shall  own 
or  control  it. 

Mr,  Patterson.  Tbe  only  trouble  about  your  illustration  is  that  1 
do  not  think  any  other  j)ower  could  take  this  canal. 

Captain  Taylor.  I  am  quite  sure  of  that.  The  position  of  the  canal 
is  of  great  strategic  importance,  aiul  I  think  that  of  itself  will  some 
day  enable  the  United  States  to  use  a  smaller  naval  force  and  a  smaller 
military  force,  owing  to  the  strength  of  the  position  which  it  will  then 
hold. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Have  you  given  an  estimate  of  the  cost  of  the 
canal?     I  have  not  been  present  during  all  of  your  remarks. 

Captain  Taylor.  I  have  given  an  estimate  of  the  company  when  I 
was  general  manager,  and  also  other  estimates.  The  company  esti- 
mated that  it  would  cost  $65,000,000.  We  then  asked  a  board  of  the 
most  eminent  engineers  of  the  United  States,  who  were  totally  unprej- 
udiced and  who  possessed  no  interest  in  the  company  in  the  way  of 
stock  or  anything  else,  and  they  s^jent  several  months  in  making  an 
exhaustive  examination.  That  board  was  comijosed  of  the  State  engi- 
neer of  Xew  York,  and  Mr.  Wellington,  editor  of  the  Engineering 
News,  whose  standing  is  well  known;  and  also  railroad  engineers  well 
known  in  the  country,  as  well  as  one  or  two  other  men  of  scientific 
attainments.  We  had  a  commission  of  five.  The  company  was  not 
represented.  I  was  at  the  time  a  director  and  the  general  manager, 
and  we  were  very  particular  in  that  respect.  This  board  stated  that 
our  estimates  were  good,  but  by  reason  of  wishing  to  secure  their  esti- 
mates against  all  possibility  of  being  too  low  they  raised  our  figures  to 
$87,000,000. 

Mr.  Sherman.  They  made  a  horizontal  addition  of  15  or  20  per  cent 
on  the  cost? 

Captain  Taylor.  About  20  per  cent,  as  I  remember.  From  that 
time  on  we  took  the  figures  which  they  left  in  our  hands;  but  I  think 
it  will  not  cost  anything  like  that  figure  now,  because  excavation  is 
coming  down  very  materially  in  cost  as  time  goes  on;  still,  their  esti- 
mate has  been  retained. 

Mr.  Patterson.  You  have  gone  over  the  ground? 

Captain  Taylor.  I  know  very  little  of  the  interior.  My  business 
was,  first,  that  of  promoting  the  company,  and  later  that  of  vice-presi- 
dent and  general  manager  in  New  York.  I  know  more  of  the  estimates 
in  reference  to  the  traffic,  although  I  am  not  an  expert.  We  in  the 
Navy  are  not  trained  constructing  enghieers.  I  was  on  leave  by  the 
Government  for  the  purpose  of  assisting  in  the  promotion  of  the  canal 
in  reference  to  the  engineering.  I  think  you  will  hear  fiom  Chief  Engi- 
neer Menocal. 

Mr.  Patterson.  He  is  the  engineer? 

Captain  Taylor.  He  is  a  civil  engineer  in  the  Navy,  and  has  been 
prominent  in  his  profession. 

Mr.  Patterson.  He  is  a  civil  engineer? 

Captain  Taylor.  Yes,  sir;  of  distinction. 

Mr.  Patterson.  From  your  knowledge  of  Professor  Menocal,  you 
place  reliance  upon  his  skill? 

Captain  Taylor.  Yes,  sir;  a  reliance  based  upon  a  long  acquaint- 
ance. Mr.  Menocal  is  certainly  very  competent  for  that  work.  You 
will  hear  from  him  fully  and  exhaustively. 


NICARAGUA   CANAL.  43 

Mr.  Patterson.  What  is  the  consensus  of  opinion  in  reference  to 
the  canal  among  naval  officers. 

Captain  Taylor.  I  have  never  heard  but  two  officers  question  the 
wisdom  of  this  i^^oject  out  of  six  or  eight  hundred  whom  I  know,  and 
I  must  have  heard  three  or  four  hundred  speak  of  it.  It  is  a  matter  of 
fi^equent  discussion  among  us  in  every  form.  Every  officer  in  the  Navy 
knows  that  country,  because  we  are  a  great  deal  in  the  Caribbean  Sea. 
We  are  called  there  quite  frequently  by  political  disturbances  on  the 
west  side.  We  are  there  more  than  we  are  here.  I  have  never  heard 
but  two  officers  who  condemned  it.  One  questioned  whether  it  would 
add  to  our  military  strength  to  have  it,  and  another  doubted  whether 
it  would  not  injure  our  transcontinental  railroads.  It  is  favored  among 
naval  officers  more  universally  than  anything  I  know  of. 

Mr.  Patterson.  If  you  were  a  business  man,  would  you  come  to  the 
conclusion  that  this  canal  would  cheapen  rates  across  the  continent? 

Captain  Taylor.  I  have  no  doubt  it  would  increase  the  amount  of 
goods  transported  from  the  Pacific  Slope.  It  would  give  the  railroads 
that  much  more  money. 

Mr.  Patterson.  The  effect  would  be  to  introduce  an  important  factor 
of  competition  to  cheapen  rates,  practically  throughout  the  country, 
and,  at  the  same  time,  by  increasing  the  volume  of  business,  would 
permit  the  railroads  to  live  and  thrive. 

Captain  Taylor.  My  impression  is  that  the  volume  of  business 
would  be  increased  to  such  an  extent  that  it  would  resemble  tliat  occa- 
sion when  the  rates  of  postage  being  reduced  there  resulted  a  great 
increase  in  the  amount  of  money  received.  I  should  think  it  would  be 
the  same  in  this  case. 

The  Chairman.  The  suggestion  has  been  made  that  the  population 
would  be  so  increased  that  there  would  be  a  great  deal  of  passenger 
business  which  would  add  to  the  revenues  of  the  railroads. 

Captain  Taylor.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Bennett.  In  your  computations  in  reference  to  the  probable 
traffic  which  would  be  received  by  the  canal,  was  any  traffic  now  car- 
ried by  the  transcontinental  railroads  taken  into  consideration'? 

Captain  Taylor.  None,  as  far  as  I  remember,  only  the  present  traf- 
fic water-borne.  We  proposed  that  the  tolls  should  be  such  that  vessels 
can  make  a  jirofit  going  through  the  canal. 

Mr.  Bennett.  You  believe  the  minimum  tonnage  would  be  5,000,000 
tons? 

Captain  Taylor.  Yes,  sir;  but  if  you  desire  to  quote  me  I  would 
prefer  that  you  wait,  because  I  shall  be  able  to  show  the  figures  in  that 
connection  when  I  can  get  at  my  papers. 

Mr.  Patterson.  I  supjiose  you  are  able  to  give  an  intelligent  opinion 
in  respect  to  the  trade  winds  at  the  point  where  this  canal  would  cross 
the  isthmus? 

Captain  Taylor.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Patterson.  I  am  told  that  at  Panama  sailing  vessels  practically 
could  not  use  a  canal  there  for  the  reason  that  the  air  is  calm  on  both 
sides,  whereas,  on  the  Nicaragua  Canal,  it  has  been  insisted  that  sail- 
ing vessels  would  have  the  advantage  of  trade  winds  both  in  the  Carib- 
bean Sea  and  the  Pacific  Ocean. 

Captain  Taylor.  That  is  true;  I  do  not  remember  the  exact  figures. 
The  belt  stays  over  Panama  about  ten  months  of  the  year,  and  at 
Nicaragua  it  is  calm  i)erhaps  only  two  months  in  the  year.  I  have  been 
eleven  days  in  sight  of  the  hills  around  Aspinwall,  in  command  of  the 
Saratoga,  a  sailing  man-of-war,  trying  to  get  in. 


44 


NICARAGUA    CANAL. 


T  would  suggest  that  if  tlie  chairman  wouhl  send  to  the  IS'avy  Depart- 
ment for  the  charts  of  Lieutenant  Maury  they  will  show  the  calm  belts. 
The  situation  is  Avorse  on  the  Pacific  coast  than  on  the  Atlantic  side. 
There  is  no  diflSculty  in  regard  to  winds  at  the  Mcaragua  Canal.  You 
can  be  convinced  of  that  when  you  examine  these  charts;  but,  i^ending 
that,  I  can  state  quite  positively  that  the  difficulties  at  Panama  are 
very  great,  while  they  practically  do  not  exist  at  Nicaragua. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Some  years  ago  a  gentleman,  whose  name  I  will  not 
mention,  but  who  claimed  to  be  familiar  with  these  matters,  was  very 
much  in  favor  of  the  Eads  system. 

Captain  Taylor.  The  ship  railway  at  Tehuantepec? 

Mr.  Patterson.  Yes,  sir;  and  he  described  the  difficulties  with  the 
Nicaragua  Canal  to  be  these:  That  this  canal  was  excavated  for  20 
miles  through  a  ledge  of  rock,  and  that  it  was  prat'tically  impossible 
for  ships  to  go  through  without  being  injured,  and  without  coming  in 
contact  with  the  sides  of  the  canal,  and  all  that  sort  of  thing. 

Captain  Taylor.  The  entire  distance  of  the  Nicaragua  Canal  is  169 
miles,  of  which  there  are  27  miles  of  canal,  and  the  rest  is  river  and 
lake.  There  are  only  about  2  miles  of  rock.  The  remainder  is  dredging 
in  the  open  country.  There  is  a  rock  cut  of  about  If  miles,  and  to  that 
they  add  another  piece,  which  makes  about  2i  or  3  miles. 

Mr.  Patterson.  In  passing  through  in  winds  or  storms,  would  a  ves- 
sel be  liable  to  be  pushed  up  against  the  sides  of  the  canal  and  be 
injured? 

Captain  Taylor.  In  a  deep  rock  cut  there  are  no  side  winds,  and  in 
the  open  country  a  vessel  could  run  up  aginst  the  soft  sides  and  would 
not  be  hurt.  On  the  Suez  Canal  they  have  sand  storms,  and  sometimes 
vessels  are  forced  against  the  sides  in  a  storm,  but  they  are  not  injured. 
I  have  laid  there  all  night  in  a  ship  without  injury  or  discomfort. 

Mr.  Patterson.  I  did  not  think  there  was  anything  in  the  complaint, 
but  I  wanted  to  get  it  in  the  record,  as  that  was  one  of  the  points  made 
against  the  canal. 

Captain  Taylor.  It  is  without  foundation  in  fact.  The  amount  of 
rock  cut  is  so  small  that  the  statement  may  be  regarded  as  a  mistake. 
There  is  a  deep  rock  cut  in  this  i)lan,  but  it  was  not  forced  upon  our 
engineers  as  a  necessity;  it  was  taken  as  a  favorable  alternative.  The 
canal  might  pass  around  it  by  taking  another  route,  if  it  was  desired, 
but  it  would  be  7  miles  longer.  The  rock  cut  is  an  advantage,  because 
a  portion  of  the  material  excavated  is  needed  for  the  jetties  at  Grey- 
town  for  the  Ochoa  dam,  for  revetments  of  the  banks  at  certain  places 
which  are  liable  to  wash.  We  have  to  get  much  rock  from  somewhere, 
and  this  was  thought  to  be  a  favorable  location  to  obtain  it.  It  is  in 
some  respects  the  same  principle  which  governs  a  railroad  engineer  in 
making  his  "cuts"  and  "fills." 

Mr.  Corliss.  Mr.  Miller  said  that  practically  the  bottom  of  the  canal 
was  free  sand  and  clay.  Did  your  commission  have  anything  to  say  on 
that  subject  *? 

Captain  Taylor.  We  had  borings  made  to  a  certain  extent,  and  the 
commission  appointed  by  the  company  gave  their  opinion  and  made 
some  suggestions.  There  is  no  reason  to  decide  all  minor  details  of  the 
canal  now.  These  matters  are  not  usually  decided  in  a  great  work  like 
this  until  the  time  for  each  detail  comes.  Sufficient  contour  lines  and 
borings  and  gaugings  are  completed  to  make  it  certain  that  the  project 
is  feasible  and  economical.  At  a  later  period,  as  we  approach  each 
detail  of  the  work,  one  hundred  borings  and  gaugings  and  contours  will 
be  undertaken  for  every  one  made  before.    It  is  nothing  against  the 


NICARAGUA   CANAL.  45 

project  tliat  tliere  sliould  be  a  preliminary  examiuatioii  for  preliminary 
work,  and  full  examiuation  for  the  detailed  work.  All  great  works 
proceed  in  tLis  way. 

Mr.  Bennett.  If  you  have  finished,  I  suppose  you  will  prepare  and 
forward  us  the  papers  which  you  have  promised? 

Captain  Tayloe.  I  have  finished,  and  I  will  recommend  you  now  to 
Mr.  IMeuocal,  who  will  appear  before  you  as  soon  as  he  recovers. 

Adjourned. 


Committee  on  Interstate  and  Foreign  Commerce, 

Thursday^  A])ril  3,  1896. 
The  Committee  on  Interstate  and  Foreign  Commerce  this  day  met, 
Hon.  William  P.  Hepburn  in  the  chair. 

The  committee  had  under  consideration  the  subject  of  the  Nicaragua 
Canal. 

STATEMENT  OF  MR.  LINDON  W.  BATES,  OF  CHICAGO. 

Mr.  Bates  said : 

Mr.  Chairman  and  Gentlemen  :  In  being  here  I  accept  the  invita- 
tion, as  I  understand  it,  to  speak  from  the  standpoint  both  of  a  large 
liolder  of  property  on  the  Pacific  Coast  and  to  represent  American 
invention  and  contractors  in  such  relations  as  to  what  they  have  done 
and  what  they  can  do  as  far  as  the  Nicaragua  Canal  is  concerned,  and 
I  would  say  that  I  have  been  familiar  with  the  reports  of  the  Nicaragua 
Canal  for  tlie  last  seven  or  eight  years,  and  have  conferred  very  fre- 
quently with  oflBcers  of  the  company,  and  more  particularly  with  the 
subordinates  who  did  the  actual  work  of  boring  and  surveying  on  the 
line  of  the  canal.  I  have  np  to  within  a  year  ago  been  engaged  upon 
the  Chicago  Drainage  Canal,  which  affords  the  most  modern  parallel  to 
the  work  of  the  Nicaragua  Canal,  treating  it  from  an  American  stand- 
point. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  I  wish  you  would  state  whether  you  are  a  civil 
engineer,  how  long  you  have  been  in  the  practice  of  your  profession, 
and  also  what  experience  you  have  had  in  contracting;  that  is,  covering 
what  period"? 

Mr.  Bates.  I  am  a  civil  engineer,  coming  from  the  Tale  Scientific 
School;  have  been  engaged  upon  the  Chicago,  Burlington  and  Quincy, 
and  afterwards  upon  nearly  all  the  transcontinental  lines  during  their 
construction  since  1.S78,  acting  both  as  an  engineer  and  subsequently  as 
a  contractor  for  a  considerable  portion  of  the  actual  work  of  construc- 
tion in  California,  Oregon,  and  Washington.  Latterly  I  have  been  en- 
gaged for  the  Mississippi  Eiver  Commission  in  the  construction  of  a 
very  large  dredging  plant  which  has  just  been  finished,  which  upon  the 
final  official  test  has  demonstrated  its  capacity  of  0,000  cubic  yards  per 
hour  on  ordinary  river  sand  excavated  from  the  bar  and  thrown  a  dis- 
tance of  1,000  feet  through  a  pipe  line.  Its  record  is  something  like  ten 
times  the  record  achieved  in  the  world  before,  and  is,  ])erhaps,  unique 
in  Government  annals,  in  that  I  have  given  in  the  results  achieved 
four  times  beyond  that  which  I  guaranteed  to  do. 

The  work  that  this  machine  does  is  of  si^ecial  significance  in  refer- 
ence to  the  Nicaragua  Canal,  because  it  embodies  in  itself  power  that 
is  greater  than  that  of  all  the  machines  and  men  and  appliances  which 
were  gathered  by  Lesseps  at  Panama,  and  it  is  equivalent  in  its  work 


46  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

to  more  tban  an  army  of  00,000  men  could  do  if  they  were  given  a 
shovel  and  wheelbarrow  to  take  the  sand  a  distance  of  a  quarter  of 
a  mile  as  she  is  sending  it.  In  addition  to  that,  upon  the  Chicago 
Drainage  Canal  I  have  had  much  more  than  the  ordinary  facilities 
aliorded  by  the  chief  engineer  and  trustees  of  the  sanitary  district,  as 
well  as  by  the  successful  contractors,  who  are  my  i)ersonal  friends,  and 
all  of  them  are  intensely  interested  in  this  Nicaragua  project  to  know 
what  are  the  most  modern  appliances  for  the  actual  execution  of  such 
work  as  the  Nicaragua  Canal,  and  I  «'ill  say  that  those  men  are  the 
men  above  all  others  who  are  qualified  to  say  what  it  will  cost  to  build 
the  Nicaragua  Canal,  They  are  the  men  who  do  the  thing,  not  those 
who  make  the  preliminary  plans.  There  has  been  upon  tlie  Chicago 
Drainage  Canal  a  survival  of  the  fittest,  and  there  are  now  five  or  six 
men  or  firms  who  have  been  eminently  successful  in  designing  the  best 
apparatus  lor  executing  their  work  and  in  making  a  profit  at  the  lowest 
canal  prices  which  have  ever  obtained  in  any  country,  and  I  would 
suggest,  if  it  be  desired  by  the  committee,  that  I  will  give  them  the 
names,  which  I  will  recite,  of  men  whom  I  consider,  from  the  experience 
I  have  had,  as  experts  qualified  to  give  the  very  best  information  upon 
the  actual  work  of  construction  that  is  contemplated  in  the  canal. 

The  Chairman.  Will  you  give  some  of  those  names  just  there? 

Mr.  Bates.  I  would  give  the  name  of  Mr.  Brown,  of  the  Brown  Hoist 
Company,  of  Cleveland,  Ohio,  and  the  Lidgerwood  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany, of  New  York,  as  being  especially  skilled  in  the  transportation  of 
spoil  from  the  excavation  into  a  given  spoil  bank ;  I  would  give  the  name 
of  the  Kepauno  Chemical  Company,  whose  ofiice  is  in  Chicago,  as  the  best 
experts  upon  powder  in  this  country,  because  they  have  furnished  all 
the  powder  amounting  to  many  tons  of  dynamite  daily  upon  the  canal. 
I  would  give  the  name  of  E.  D.  Smith  &  Co.,  of  Philadelphia  and  Chi- 
cago, and  of  Mason,  Hoge  &  Co.,  of  Eomeo;  also  the  name  of  Mac  Ar- 
thur Bros.  t&  Co.,  of  Chicago,  and  Christie  &  Lowe,  of  Chicago,  as 
men  who  have  been  x)reeminently  successful  of  all  men  who  have  taken 
a  great  interest  in  this  canal,  and  who,  I  believe,  would  respond  to  an 
invitation  to  appear  before  the  committee.  I  would  also  include  the 
name  of  Lyman  E.  Cooley,  of  Chicago. 

Speaking  from  the  dredging  standpoint,  I  would  say  that  there  are 
40,000,000  yards  of  dredging  upon  the  Nicaragua  Canal  and  in  the  har- 
bor of  Greytown,  and  in  the  sand  formation  so  far  as  it  goes  up  toward 
the  first  lock,  and  in  the  harbor  of  Brito,  and  machines  of  the  type 
wliich  1  have  photographs  of  here  and  have  myself  operated  and 
designed  are  capable  of  executing  the  work  at  a  very  great  profit  at 
the  prices  mentioned  in  the  report  of  Mr.  Menocal,  and  that  with  these 
machines  the  construction  company  could  do  the  work  for  but  a  small 
jiercentage  of  these  actual  estimates.  The  work  upon  the  Drainage 
Canal  at  Chicago  has  shown  that  for  the  different  kinds  of  work  differ- 
ent apparatus  is  necessary,  and  I  would  draw  a  special  parallel  between 
the  Drainage  Canal  and  the  work  upon  the  Nicaragua  Canal  lying 
between  Lake  Nicaragua  and  Brito.  The  average  cut  is  about  the 
same,  except  the  prism  of  the  Chicago  canal  is  greater  than  that  con- 
tem])lated  at  the  other  point;  but  the  actual  type  of  machines  which 
operate  at  Chicago  and  have  been  so  successful  would  be  particularly 
applicable  to  the  division  between  the  lake  and  the  Pacific  Ocean. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  How  about  the  rock  cut"? 

Mr.  Bates.  Speaking  about  the  rock  cut  and  organization,  I  would 
say,  as  contractors,  there  would  be  two  ways  of  approaching  the  problem, 
either  taking  the  surveys  and  borings  and  everything  the  Nicaragua 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  47 

Canal  Company  have  got  and  actually  seeing  the  ground  and  forming  a 
syndicate  which  would  make  a  price,  or  the  caual  could  really  be  built 
cheaper  probably  if  the  harbor  at  Greytown  and  railroad  up  to  the 
Ochoa  dam  and  the  railroad  to  the  coast  were  first  constructed.  Our 
experience  upon  the  canal  has  demonstrated  tliat  the  two  lines  of  rail- 
road, the  Chicago  Northern  and  the  Santa  Fe,  running  on  either  side 
of  the  canal,  have  been  of  inestimable  service,  and  if  the  contractors 
had  those  conditions  given  and  the  line  was  divided  into  sections  there 
are  a  large  nuinber  of  firms  in  this  country  of  experience  who  would  be 
glad  to  put  in  their  figures  upon  a  fair  basis,  and  I  Avill  say  that  the 
problem  of  the  divide  cut  and  the  excavation  of  material,  requiring 
powder,  drills,  and  transportation,  could  hardly  be  committed  to  hands 
which  would  solve  the  problem  better  of  cheapness  than  to  the  very 
men  Avho  have  handled  the  rockwork  on  the  Chicago  Drainage  Canal, 
which  in  the  aggregate  is  really  greater  than  upon  the  Nicaragua. 

Mr.  UooLiTTLE.  How  about  the  appliances  that  have  been  made  use 
of  at  Chicago  for  handling  material  in  the  rock  cuts? 

Mr.  Bates.  I  have  here  a  number  of  photographs  [exhibiting  same]; 
for  instance,  there  is  one  which  shows  what  is  known  as  the  Brown 
cantilever  hoist.  This  is  a  novel  apparatus,  built  especially  for  the 
canal,  that  has  built  what  they  call  in  Chicago  the  cantilever  mountains. 
This  machine  actually  cost  probably  not  to  exceed  $14,000  or  $15,000, 
and  the  Brown  Hoist  Comj)any  have  been  able  to  make  contracts  to 
furnish  these  machines  themselves,  and  received  as  compensation  for 
the  removal  of  material  from  the  excavation  after  it  had  been  loaded 
on  the  skips  15  cents  per  cubic  yard.  It  is  my  belief,  from  personal 
investigation,  the  actual  cost  to  the  company  is  not  to  exceed  5  cents 
per  cubic  yard  for  taking  the  material  from  the  bottom  of  a  40-foot 
excavation  and  carrying  it  300  feet  and  putting  it  in  the  spoil  bank. 
I  have  here  another  form  of  transporting  apparatus,  which  is  known 
as  the  Lidgerwood  Overhead  Cable  Way.  Tliat  costs  a  little  less 
than  the  Brown  hoist,  and  has  about  the  same  cost  of  operation,  per- 
haps a  little  more,  but  it  would  be  especially  advantageous  in  many 
situations  upon  the  Nicaragua  Canal. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  For  what  purpose  is  this  last  api^liance? 

Mr.  Bates.  That  is  for  taking  out  rock  from  the  excavation  and 
putting  it  in  the  spoil  bank. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  How  far  can  it  be  carried  in  that  way  by  the 
Lidgerwood  machine"? 

Mr.  Bates.  I  think  there  will  be  no  trouble  about  the  distance  o, 
transportation.  This,  you  understand,  is  a  wire-rope  tramway  that 
will  transport  a  great  distance,  but  in  this  special  form  it  would  i)rob- 
ably  not  be  advantageous  to  carry  it  more  than  1,000  feet. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  What  would  you  say  about  the  use  of  that  machine 
in  the  rock  cut  and  at  Ochoa  dam  for  removal  of  the  material  and  the 
handling  of  it  there*? 

Mt.  Bates.  Without  going  very  definitely  into  it,  I  might  say  material 
from  the  divide  cut  could  be  carried  on  this  railroad  to  the  vicinity  of 
Ochoa  dam,  and  it  might  be  advantageous  from  one  standpoint  of  the 
contractor  to  use  the  overhead  cable  way  in  putting  the  material  into 
the  dam.  But  this  has  to  be  said,  that  every  contractor  who  might 
have  a  proposition  to  take  it  would  be  very  likely  to  solve  it  in  his  own 
different  way,  and  the  most  peculiar  thing,  almost,  in  the  canal  has  been 
that  every  man  who  had  a  section  there  has  evolved  a  different  method 
of  handling  and  excavating  his  material,  and  each  one  of  them  has 
been  novel  and  each  has  been  successful.    There  is  a  form  of  derrick 


48  NICARAGUA   CANAL. 

[exhibiting  photograph]  used  on  the  canal  which  is  a  pivoted  derrick, 
with  long  arms  swinging  around  and  around.  There  is  another  one, 
showing  tlie  way  the  cantilever  reaches  over  into  the  excavation. 

Mr.  NooNAN.  When  you  take  the  material  excavated  to  the  place 
where  3  ou  desire  to  make  a  dam,  what  process  do  you  have  of  putting 
that  in  position  to  make  it  hold  the  water? 

Mr.  Bates.  As  I  understand,  the  process  at  the  Ochoa  dam  is  that 
they  proi)ose  to  put  in  a  loose- rock  dam,  which  would  be  literally 
putting  in  so  much  rock  that,  with  the  collecting  of  the  sediment,  or, 
jHuhaps,  the  putting  in  of  a  core,  it  would  prevent  the  filtration  of  water 
through  it. 

Mr.  NooNAN.  As  an  expert,  do  you  approve  of  that  mode? 

Mr.  Bates.  I  think  that  is  the  very  best  way  to  solve  that  problem. 
I  have  seen  in  California,  for  instance,  what  we  call  a  sweet-water  dam — 
masonry  dam,  with  the  arch  toward  the  pressure — but  that  would  not 
be  feasible  at  Ochoa,  and  thej^  have  got  there  rock  so  available  that  I 
think  there  is  not  any  question  but  what  they  can  make  a  perfect  suc- 
cess of  it. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  It  is  only  a  question  of  suflicient  material  being 
deposited  there,  I  suppose? 

Mr.  Bates.  Yes. 

Mr.  Noonan.  I  have  heard  it  claimed  by  some  that  this  mode  of 
de[)Ositing  stone  and  earth  is  a  most  perfect  plan  at  the  present  day. 

Mr.  Bates.  Well,  for  that  particular  purpose  I  think  it  would  be. 
Now,  there  is  another  form  [exhibiting  photograph].  Here  is  one  with 
a  blast  going  on,  and  here  is  a  photograph  of  one  of  the  hydraulic 
dredges  which  are  engaged  on  the  canal,  similar  to  the  form  I  have 
mentioned  on  the  Mississippi,  except  it  is  smaller.  Here  is  a  larger 
photograph  showing  this  new  dredge  that  has  been  built  for  the  Missis- 
sippi Kiver  Commission,  and  here  again  is  a  detailed  plan  of  the  same. 

I  will  say  the  Drainage  Canal  contains  five-sevenths  of  the  total  exca- 
vation to  be  made  at  Nicaragua. 

The  Chairman.  What  will  be  the  total  cost  of  this  excavation  on 
this  Chicago  Drainage  Canal? 

Mr.  Bates.  I  think  the  last  figures  reached  something  like  a  total 
cost  of  the  canal,  including  right  of  way,  about  $28,000,000.  My  impres- 
sion is  the  right  of  way  and  other  expenses  have  amounted  to  $3,000,000 
or  $4,000,000  of  that  sum. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  What  is  the  depth  of  it  at  the  bottom  and  at  the 
top? 

Mr.  Bates.  On  the  earth  sections  of  the  canal,  which  extend  about 
12  miles  out  from  the  beginning,  the  bottom  width  is  to  be  210  feet, 
and  that  width  also  extending  through  the  glacial  drift  section,  which 
goes  on  about  10  miles  farther.  In  the  rock  section  the  slope  of  the 
canal  is  increased  a  little,  and  that  admits  of  narrowing  the  prism  of 
the  canal.  It  is  160  feet  wide  on  the  bottom,  with  nearly  vertical 
slopes.  Those  slopes  may  be  vertical  there,  because  the  rock  is  lime- 
stone rock,  and  in  the  rock  section  the  first  process  is  clearing  the 
ground  of  obstructions  and  starting  the  channeling  machines.  Those 
channeling  machines  cut  a  groove  representing  either  side  of  the  canal 

II  feet  deep,  and  then  the  drills,  run  by  compressed  air  or  by  steam, 
are  put  to  work  upon  the  face,  and  the  material  is  broken  up  so  it  can 
be  loaded  on  the  skips  of  the  cantalevers,  or  the  overhead  cable  way,  or 
any  other  method  which  is  adopted  for  transporting  the  material. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  What  is  the  length  of  the  Drainage  Canal? 
Mr.  Bates.  The  total  length  is  about  30  miles. 
The  Chairman.  And  the  depth? 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  49 

Mr.  Bates.  The  depth  of  water  will  be  26  feet  and  the  average  cut 
may  be  said  to  be  about  40  to  42  feet  deep,  which  is  about  the  same  as 
the  cut  from  the  lake  to  the  Pacific  Ocean  iu  jSTicaragua,  or  just  about 
the  same.  These  photographs  also  show  the  masonry  walls  which  have 
been  put  up  along  some  sections  where  the  glacial  drifts  or  alluvial 
deposits  overlie  the  solid  rock. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Have  you  ever  handled  igneous  rock  ? 

Mr.  Bates.  Yes. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  And  know  of  the  difficulties  attending  that  sort  ot 
work,  and  the  difficulties  attending  the  handling  of  limestone  rock  on 
this  Drainage  Canal? 

Mr.  Bates.  Yes.  I  can  best  compare  that  with  the  work  on  the  Col- 
umbia liiver,  where  I  was  engaged  in  1881  on  work  for  the  Oregon  Navi- 
gation Company,  and  when  we  first  began  nobody  offered  to  do  it  for  less 
than  $3  a  yard,  but  after  the  construction  began  we  found  we  were  able 
to  handle  the  rock  under  railway  conditions,  the  igneous  rock,  or  basalt, 
as  we  called  it  out  there,  at  $1.£0  per  cubic  yard.  I  would  like  to  have 
all  the  rock  I  could  excavate  on  railway  work  at  that  price. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  What  has  been  the  cost  of  handling  the  limestone 
rock  on  the  Drainage  Canal? 

Mr.  Bates.  The  actual  cost  of  handling  the  limestone  rock  has  not 
been  to  exceed  50  cents  i^er  cubic  yard,  and  that  includes  the  whole 
work.  Of  course,  there  have  been  some  contractors  who  spent  more 
money  on  it,  because  they  did  not  rise  to  the  occasion  as  the  successful 
men  did. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Would  you  say,  from  the  descriptions  you  have  in 
tliese  reports  of  the  rock  in  the  rock  cut  at  Nicaragua,  that  the  same 
appliances  could  be  made  use  of  and  the  same  labor,  and  that  the  cost 
would  be  greatly  increased  necessarily,  or  otherwise? 

Mr.  Bates.  I  would  express  the  opinion  that  Mr.  Menocal's  estimates 
are  adequate  for  the  handling  of  any  material  on  the  canal,  with  a  fair 
profit  to  the  contractor. 

The  Chairman.  Would  you  be  willing  to  take  a  contract  for  the 
whole  canal  at  the  estimates  of  Mr.  Menocal? 

Mr.  Bates.  Yes;  and  I  should  do  so  with  the  belief  that  I  would 
make  a  very  considerable  profit  out  of  it. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Do  you  believe  that  a  force  could  be  organized  here 
within  the  country  to  complete  the  work  according  to  those  plans  and 
S])ecifications,  after  having  gone  over  them  thoroughly  as  you  have, 
within  this  estimate — I  mean  to  take  the  work  up  right  now  and  carry 
it  on? 

Mr.  Bates.  I  am  thoroughly  satisfied  it  could  be  done.  I  would  like 
to  add  from  the  standpoint  of  a  practical  property  owuer  on  the  Pacific 
Coast  that,  knowing  the  condition  of  my  property  and  that  of  my 
friends  out  there  and  being  thoroughly  familiar  with  the  agricultural 
and  timber  resources  of  the  country  and  the  conditions  that  the  people 
are  in  out  there,  I  think  that  there  is  not  a  man  from  San  Diego  to 
Puget  Sound  but:  who  feels  that  the  Nicaragua  Canal  will  be  his  salva- 
tiou,  and  from  a  railroad  standpoint  I  think  that  everyone  who  is 
familiar  with  what  we  call  the  California  boom,  and  we  recollect  that 
we  were  able  to  go  from  the  Mississipi)i  Valley  to  San  Francisco  at  from 
$5  to  $10  railroad  fare,  and  that  the  railroads  in  California  were  never 
more  prosperous  than  they  were  from  the  large  local  business  which 
developed  from  the  iiopulation  of  200,000  people  who  went  in  under 
that  excitement,  and  with  the  assured  construction  of  the  Nicaragua 
Canal  there  would  be  inaugurated  a  new  era  for  the  Pacific  Coast  which 
N   C 4 


50  NICAKAGUA    CANAL. 

would  very  largely  increase  the  earnings,  especially  the  local  earnings, 
of  every  railroad  company  on  the  coast,  and  while  there  might  be  gross 
freights  talcen  in  large  amounts  through  the  canal  there  would  be  a 
much  vaster  tonnage  and  very  much  larger  amount  of  passenger  earn- 
ings, resulting  from  the  increase  of  prosperity  and  population  on  the 
Pacific  Coast,  to  the  railroads  than  they  can  ever  hope  to  secure  under 
present  conditions. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  I  would  like  to  ask  you  if  the  Nicaragua  Canal  has 
been  a  subject  of  conversation  between  yourself  and  other  successful 
men  on  the  Chicago  Drainage  Canal,  and  about  the  judgment  of  those 
men  as  expressed  in  those  talks  you  have  had  with  them  concerning 
the  practicability  of  that  and  the  feasibility  of  it, 

Mr.  Bates.  I  will  say  I  have  often  talked  with  the  gentlemen  whom 
I  have  named  here  as  contractors  on  the  line,  and  that  they  are  all  of 
them  familiar  with  the  literature  and  reports  that  have  been  published, 
and  they  would  like  to  be  able  to  be  part  of  the  construction  of  the 
Nicaragua  Canal,  just  as  they  have  been  part  of  the  success  of  the  Chi- 
cago Drainage  Canal,  They  are  men  who  have  got  invested  in  plants 
upon  the  canal  now  upward  of  $3,000,000,  and  they  have  been  under 
bonds  to  the  sanitary  canal  to  a  similar  amount. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  I  wish  you  would  here  state  whether  a  portion  oi 
that  plant  could  be  made  use  of  profitably  at  Nicaragua. 

Mr.  Bates.  I  think  there  are  some  portions  of  the  plant  on  the 
Drainage  Canal  whi(!h  could  be  used  to  advantage  at  Nicaragua,  but, 
on  the  other  hand,  there  are  little  parts  of  it  which  have  been  worn  out 
in  the  service  and  which  it  would  not  pay  to  transport  to  a  new  point; 
but,  further,  the  most  valuable  thing  in  reference  to  it  has  been  that 
they  have  evolved  methods  of  knowing  how  to  do  the  thing  the 
cheapest. 

Mr.  Chairman,  I  will  leave  these  photographs  and  maps  here,  so  that 
other  members  of  the  committee  will  have  an  opportunity  to  look  at 
them  if  they  so  desire. 

Thereupon  the  committee  adjourned. 


Committee  on  Interstate  and  Foeeign  Commerce, 

WasMngton,  D.  C,  Saturday,  Ajyril  11, 1896. 
The  committee  met  at  10,30  a.  m.  for  the  purpose  of  continuing  hear- 
ings on  the  question  of  the  Nicaragua  Canal. 

STATEMENT  OF  MR.  A.  G.  MENOCAL.  OF  THE  NAVY  DEPARTMENT. 

Mr.  Chairman  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Committee:  I  have  pre- 
pared a  statement  in  which  I  propose  to  answer  some  of  the  criticisms 
which  have  been  made  against  the  Nicaragua  Canal.  I  am  unable  to 
read  it,  as  I  am  suffering  from  bronchitis,  and  I  shall  have  to  ask  that 
the  paper  be  read  by  some  member  of  the  committee,  or  by  a  gentleman 
present  who  is  familiar  with  the  geographical  names  in  Nicaragua.  If 
you  Avill  allow  this  gentleman  to  read  it,  I  will  answer  any  questions 
which  any  member  of  the  committee  may  desire  to  ask  as  the  reading 
is  proceeded  with. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  This  is  a  paper  which  has  been  prepared  compre- 
hensively, and  it  can  be  read,  if  the  members  desire  to  have  it;  but 
perhaps  we  would  prefer  to  have  the  statement  printed,  and  hear  Mr. 
Menocal  in  regard  to  the  work. 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  51 

Mr.  Patterson.  I  would  rather  that  the  paper  were  left  to  be  inserted 
in  the  notes,  and  printed,  and  that  Mr.  Menocal  take  a  seat  at  the 
table  and  let  us  have  a  table  talk,  as  it  were.  Tlie  chairman  can  draw 
out  the  information  Avhich  we  desire  by  questions. 

The  Chairman.  How  long  have  you  been  connected  with  this  enter- 
prise? 

Mr.  Menooal.  Since  1872. 

The  Chairman.  What  portion  of  that  time  have  you  spent  in  Nica- 
ragua in  the  vicinity  of  the  line  of  the  canal? 

Mr.  Menocal.  In  the  aggregate,  more  than  six  years.  I  have  been 
in  Nicaragua  fifteen  or  sixteen  times,  and  have  remained  there  six 
months  to  a  year  at  a  time.  I  have  spent  on  the  line  of  the  canal  and 
its  surroundings  about  six  years. 

The"  Chairman.  During  the  time  of  your  residence  there,  what  has 
been  your  observation  as  to  the  precipitation  and  volume  of  water 
discharged  from  the  lake? 

Mr.  Menocal.  I  have  made  observations  as  to  the  rainfall  and 
discharge  of  the  streams  and  other  meteorological  conditions. 

The  Chairman.  Your  observations  have  enabled  you  to  understand 
every  class  of  phenomena  affecting  the  canal? 

Mr.  Menocal.  Entirely.  I  do  not  know  that  I  have  a  knowledge  of 
what  is  termed  the  regimen  of  the  rivers,  but  I  have  the  maximum  and 
minimum  of  the  rainfall  and  the  floods  for  a  number  of  years.  By 
observation  I  have  arrived  at  conclusions  in  regard  to  that,  especially 
in  Nicaragua,  where  the  rainfall  varies.  The  rainfall  changes  over  100 
inches  from  one  year  to  another,  and  in  some  places  it  changes  as  much 
as  200  inches  in  a  distance  of  country  not  more  than  200  miles  in  area. 

In  order  to  arrive  at  the  extent  or  estimate  of  rainfall,  observations 
must  be  carried  on  for  a  long  number  of  years,  and  even  tlien  the 
observations  for  a  series  of  years  may  be  entirely  upset  by  the  observa- 
tions of  another  series  of  years. 

The  Chairman.  Have  those  observations  been  preserved? 

Mr.  Menocal.  Yes,  sir;  they  have  during  the  time  that  I  was  there. 
They  have  not  been  preserved  for  an  uninterrupted  series  of  years,  as 
they  should  have  been,  because  we  have  not  remained  in  the  country 
permanently;  but  during  the  time  I  was  there  I  made  observations 
regularly. 

The  Chairman.  Were  they  sufficient? 

Mr.  Menocal.  Yes,  sir;  to  arrive  at  an  approximate  of  the  floods  of 
all  the  rivers  and  of  the  lake.  What  I  have  done  has  been  to  estimate 
the  maximum  from  observations  and  then  to  duplicate  them,  and  I  base 
the  work  proposed  for  the  canal  on  those  figures. 

The  Chairman.  The  minimum  rainfall  seems  to  be  twice  as  great  as 
the  maximum? 

Mr.  Menocal.  Yes,  sir;  in  Grey  Town  the  precipitation  is  as  much 
as  29G  inches.  That  was  according  to  daily  observations  made  during 
three  years. 

Mr.  Joy.  Do  you  mean  a  rainfall  of  296  inches  in  one  year? 

Mr.  Menocal.  Yes,  sir.  It  varies  very  much.  There  is  no  condition 
of  dry  or  wet  season  on  the  Atlantic  coast.  It  rains  most  all  the  year 
through,  and  every  day,  and  for  that  reason  the  rainfall  is  usually 
great.  West  of  the  lake  the  conditions  are  different.  The  rainfall  is 
less,  and  the  period  of  dry  and  wet  season  runs  each  about  six  months 
in  the  year,  with  an  occasional  rain  every  two  or  three  days  in  the  rainy 
season.  As  you  approach  the  Atlantic  coast  the  rainfall  increases 
gradually,  and  from  16  to  20  miles  from  Grey  town  on  the  coast  the 


52  .  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

rainfall  increases  very  nuicli.  In  Greytown  we  have  observed  rainfall  of 
as  much  as  296  inches  in  one  year.  The  largest  flood  which  has  been 
observed  in  the  San  Jnan  River  was  42,000  cubic  feet  per  second.  In 
estimating"  weirs  and  sluices  I  have  increased  that  volume  50  per  cent, 
estimating  the  maximum  flood  at  03,000  cubic  feet  per  second.  I 
double  that  in  providing  for  weirs  and  sluice  discharge,  and  provide 
for  125,000  cubic  feet  per  second. 

The  board  of  engineers  base  their  estimate  of  the  maximum  at  150,000 
cubic  feet  per  second.  I  regard  that  as  grossly  exaggerated,  but  it  is 
only  a  question  of  weirs.  If  125,000  feet,  for  which  I  have  estimated, 
is  not  sutticient,  let  us  jirovide  for  150,000  cubic  feet.  It  is  only  a  com- 
paratively small  increase  of  cost. 

The  Chairman.  How  long  have  you  been  engaged  in  your  profession 
as  an  enginer? 

Mr.  Menocal.  Since  1862. 

The  Chairman.  Have  you  been  in  the  Navy  during  that  time? 

Mr.  Menocal.  I  have  been  in  the  Navy  since  1872.  I  graduated 
from  the  Polytechnic  School  in  Troy,  N.  Y.,  in  1862,  and  have  been 
engaged  in  my  profession  ever  since. 

The  Chairman.  How  long  have  you  been  connected  with  the  work 
on  this  canal ? 

Mr.  Menocal.  Since  March,  1872;  over  twenty-four  years. 

The  Chairman.  What  relation  have  you  to  it  now? 

Mr.  Menocal.  I  do  not  know  that  I  have  any  close  relation,  any 
more  than  I  have  been  chief  engineer  of  the  company.  I  made  the 
surveys  through  Nicaragua  and  Panama  as  chief  engineer,  the  Govern- 
ment having  sent  me. 

The  Chairman.  Are  you  a  stockholder  in  the  canal? 

Mr.  Menocal.  I  have  a  small  interest.  I  hold  some  stock.  It  is 
only  a  little  which  I  procured  when  the  company  was  short  of  funds, 
and  I  contributed  some  money  to  help  it  along. 

The  Chairman.  Has  the  work  done  by  the  Canal  Company  in  the 
furtherance  of  its  enterprise  been  done  under  your  supervision? 

Mr.  Menocal.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  Has  this  work  been  done  upon  your  estimates,  and 
within  the  estimates  made  by  you? 

Mr.  Menocal.  It  has  been  done  inside  my  estimates.  I  estimated 
the  railroad  at  $60,000  per  mile,  and  the  road  was  built  by  contract  for 
$32,000  per  mile.  I  estimated  the  telegraph  line  at  $400  per  mile,  and 
it  was  built  for  less.  The  clearing  of  the  line  was  done  for  less  than  the 
estimate,  and  the  same  is  true  of  other  work. 

The  Chairman.  Have  you  knowledge  of  what  amount  of  money  has 
been  actually  expended? 

Mr.  Menocal.  I  know  what  the  work  cost,  and  I  know  the  condition 
of  it  now.     I  was  in  Nicaragna  with  the  board  of  engineers. 

The  Chairman.  What  work  has  been  done? 

Mr.  Menocax.  We  have  built  1,000  feet  of  breakwater;  we  have 
dredged  a  mile  of  the  canal,  and  cleared  the  land  of  trees  and  rubbish 
and  com])leted  surveys;  we  have  made  borings,  put  up  a  number  of 
buildings  and  wharves;  we  have  dredged  some  in  the  harbor  of  Grey- 
ton,  and  built  125  miles  of  telegraph  line;  we  have  i)ut  up  machine 
shops,  carpenter  shops,  and  things  like  that. 

Tlie  CiiAiifMAN.  Has  any  Avork  been  done  in  the  canal  proper? 

Mr.  Menocal.  We  have  built  about  a  mile  of  the  canal  to  the  depth 
of  17  feet. 

The  Chairman.  When  was  this  work  done? 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  53 

Mr.  Menocal.  In  1880  to  1891. 

The  Chairman.  What  is  the  condition  of  that  work  now? 

Mr.  Menocal.  I  want  to  say  that  we  have  also  built  12  miles  of  rail- 
road from  Greytown  toward  the  interior.  In  regard  to  the  condition  of 
the  work,  it  is  this:  The  canal  lias  been  excavated  througli  swamps  a 
mile  from  Greytown,  and  is  in  the  same  condition  in  which  it  was  left 
when  the  work  stopped  in  1891.  The  banks  are  vertical;  the  material 
deposited  remains  the  same  as  when  the  work  was  suspended;  there 
have  been  no  slides  in  the  excavation  or  their  banks;  the  railroad  is  in 
excellent  condition  with  the  exception  that  the  ties  are  badly  rotted. 
The  ties  were  pine  imported  from  the  United  States.  The  timber  of 
Nicaragua  is  nnflt  for  railroad  ties.  Those  ties  were  exported  from  the 
United  States,  and  were  creosoted,  but  the  creosoting  was  very  imper- 
fectly done,  so  that  they  have  rotted  out.  Otherwise,  the  railroad  is  in 
good  condition.  The  banks  are  about  the  same  as  when  the  work  was 
suspended.  The  embankments  are  perfect,  and  tlie  rails  show  very 
little  oxidation.  The  bridges  are  in  excellent  condition,  and,  to  my 
great  surprise,  we  found  that  we  had  no  trouble  in  going  over  the  line, 
being  pulled  by  men  in  hand  cart. 

The  Chairman.  When  you  were  there  this  last  summer,  did  you  use 
the  road  by  trains? 

Mr.  Menocal.  IsTot  by  locomotives.  We  went  over  the  road  in  hand 
cars,  propelled  by  men,  making  about  8  miles  an  hour.  The  reason 
why  the  locomotive  was  not  used  was  on  account  of  the  condition  of 
the  ties. 

The  Chairman.  What  is  the  condition  of  the  breakwater? 

Mr.  Menocal.  It  is  bad.  It  was  a  temporary  structure  built  of  creo- 
soted piles,  and  it  was  to  be  made  of  stone  into  deep  water.  It  was 
intended  to  fill  it  with  stone  as  soon  as  the  railroad  was  built  to  the 
rock  excavation ;  but  the  work  was  suspended  before  the  railroad  was 
carried  to  the  rock  excavation,  and  this  breakwater  was  attacked  by 
the  teredo,  so  that  it  is  in  a  very  bad  condition.  During  the  time  the 
breakwater  was  in  good  condition,  the  channel  on  the  lee  side  was  main- 
tained to  the  depth  of  14  feet,  so  that  the  ocean  steamers  came  into  the 
harbor. 

The  Chairman.  When  the  breakwater  is  built,  do  you  expect  that 
the  flowage  of  water  from  the  river  will  scour  the  channel? 

Mr.  INIenocal.  No,  sir.  The  plan  is  not  based  upon  that  principle. 
The  harbor  is  not  closed  through  sediment  brought  down  by  the  river 
directly  to  the  harbor,  but  by  the  shifting  of  the  sands — by  the  action 
of  the  waves  striking  the  beach  at  an  angle  of  about  45  degrees.  The 
sand  will  accumulate  to  the  eastward  of  the  breakwater.  We  will  then 
be  able  to  dredge  the  channel,  and  as  the  supply  of  sand  is  stopped 
there  will  be  nothing  to  fill  the  channel  afterwards. 

The  Chairman.  Can  you  give  to  the  committee  an  approximate 
estimate  of  the  actual  expenditure  of  money  required  in  this  enter- 
prise— that  is,  can  you  give  us  the  fiscal  estimates  to  carry  it  forward? 

Mr.  Menocal.  Your  question  is,  how  much  will  be  required  to  be 
spent  to  build  it.  I  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  financial  affairs  of  the 
company.  I  know  that  the  company  has  spent  between  $3,000,000  and 
$4,000,000. 

The  Chairman.  Do  you  mean  that  between  13,000,000  and  $4,000,000 
have  been  actually  expended  on  the  work? 

Mr.  Menocal.  I  am  speaking  of  the  work.  I  do  not  know  what 
expenditure  the  company  has  made  upon  other  things.  In  Nicaragua 
the  work  they  have  done  has  amounted  to  between  $3,000,000  and 
$4,000,000. 


54  NICARAGUA   CANAL, 

The  Chairman.  Does  that  include  the  dredges  and  other  machinery? 

Mr.  Menocal.  It  includes  the  plant,  the  dredges,  the  locomotives, 
and  the  material  on  hand  when  the  work  was  suspended. 

The  Chairman.  What  would  be  your  estimate  of  the  present  actual 
value  of  the  work  which  has  been  done  in  actual  construction? 

Mr.  Menocal.  1  would  prefer  not  to  give  that,  because  I  have  made 
no  careful  estimate  lately,  and  whatever  I  would  say  might  be  far  from 
the  mark. 

The  Chairman.  Is  there  any  considerable  portion  of  the  work  that 
could  be  made  available,  or  which  it  would  be  economical  to  use? 

Mr.  Menocal.  A  part  of  it  could  be  used.  The  dredges  are  not  in 
that  condition  to  be  put  at  work  at  present,  but  two  of  the  four  dredges 
could  be  used.  The  locomotives  are  in  good  condition.  They  have 
been  well  housed,  and  certainly  three  of  them  are  in  good  condition. 
The  buildings  are  in  extraordinary  good  condition,  considering  the  way 
they  have  been  neglected.  The  foundations  are  good,  and  the  wood- 
work is  sound.  All  the  railroad  is  good,  with  the  exception  of  the  ties. 
The  embankments  are  well  preserved,  and  the  rails  are  in  fair  condi- 
tion. The  telegraph  line  is  badly  maintained.  It  would  have  to  be 
cleared  and  poles  would  have  to  be  erected.  The  ground  work  of  the 
telegra])h  is  good. 

The  Chairman.  In  view  of  the  improvements  which  have  been  made 
in  dredging  machines,  would  it  be  economical  for  the  company  to  use  the 
old  machines! 

Mr.  Menocal.  I  think  it  would  not  be — not  for  the  work  which  has 
been  estiuuited.  I  think  it  would  be  more  economical  to  use  more 
improved  machines.  Some  of  the  dredges  there  could  be  of  service  for 
certain  i)urposes. 

The  Chairman.  What  is  the  capacity  of  those  dredges'? 

Mr.  Menocal.  Ten  thousand  cubic  yards  each  per  day  of  twenty 
hours. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  You  work  twenty-four  hours'? 

Mr.  Menocal.  Yes ;  but  there  is  some  time  lost  in  cleaning  boilers 
and  making  slight  repairs.  We  have  never  had  more  than  two  of  the 
dredges  at  work.  The  company  did  not  have  the  whole  plant  at  work 
at  any  one  time.  We  did  not  have  a  sufBcient  number  of  scows,  and 
we  did  not  have  enough  money  and  material  to  employ  the  necessary 
force.  Tlie  company  was  in  expectation  of  more  funds,  but  by  reason 
of  financial  diflicnlties  they  were  prevented  from  doing  the  work  prop- 
erly and  economically. 

The  Chairman.  What  is  your  estimate  of  the  dredging  to  be  done 
in  the  harbor  at  Grey  town  and  on  the  other  side? 

Mr.  Menocal.  I  think  all  the  dredging,  speaking  approximately 
from  memory,  would  amount  to  about  25,000,000  cubic  yards. 

The  C/HAIrman.  Are  you  familiar  with  the  modern  Bates  dredge? 

Mr.  Menocal.  Yes,  sir.  I  have  not  seen  that  dredge  at  work,  but  I 
have  seen  descriptions  of  the  dredge. 

The  Chairman.  In  what  portion  of  the  canal  could  that  dredge  be 
used? 

Mr.  Menocal.  All  the  material  could  be  removed  with  that  dredge. 

Mr.  Bennett.  At  what  cost  per  cubic  yard? 

Mr.  Menocal.  It  w^ould  not  cost  more  than  6  or  8  cents  per  cubic 
yard.  They  are  doing  very  extensive  dredging  at  the  harbor  in  Mobile, 
and  have  removed  vast  quantities  of  material  and  dumped  it  G  miles 
out  at  sea  for  7  cents  per  cubic  yard,  and  the  contractor  seems  to  be 
doing  welL 


NICARAGUA    CANAL. 


55 


The  Chafrman.  When  you  make  an  estimate  of  25,000,000  cubic 
yards,  does  that  include  all  the  dredging  for  the  canal? 

Mr.  Menocal.  It  is  all  the  dredging  of  the  canal,  the  lake,  the  river, 
and  harbor. 

The  Chairman.  If  you  were  to  become  the  contractor  for  that  whole 
work,  how  much  would  you  diminish  your  bid  by  reason  of  the  work 
already  done? 

Mr.  Menocal.  I  would  diminish  it  by  a  considerable  amount — 50  per 
cent,  I  should  say. 

The  Chairman.  Would  it  be  worth  so  much  as  that? 

Mr.  Menocal.  I  think  it  would,  if  properly  utilized. 

The  Chairman.  Were  you  the  agent  of  the  company  at  the  time  the 
concessions  were  given  ? 

Mr.  Menocal.  Yes,  sir;  there  was  no  company  then. 

The  Chairman.  State  what  was  done. 

Mr.  Menocal.  I  had  made  surveys  in  Nicaragua,  became  convinced 
of  the  practicability  of  the  scheme,  and  the  gentlemen  interested  in 
the  matter  were  also  believers  in  the  construction  of  the  canal,  and 
they  organized  a  preliminary  company,  if  a  company  can  b(5  so  called. 
It  was  nothing  but  an  association.  A  few  of  the  gentlemiMi  met  and 
asked  if  I  would  like  to  go  to  Mcaragua  and  get  concessions  for  the 
building  of  a  canal.  I  volunteered  to  do  it.  I  had  been  in  the  country 
and  knew  the  officials.  I  went  to  Nicaragua  and  got  these  concessions, 
and  the  gentlemen  who  were  interested  in  the  scheme  contributed  the 
money  for  this  purpose.  When  I  got  to  Nicaragua  I  had  no  great  diffi- 
culty in  obtaining  the  concession,  and  when  I  came  back  I  turned  it 
over  to  them.     That  was  my  connection  with  it. 

One  of  the  conditions  was  that  final  surveys  should  be  completed 
within  eighteen  months  from  the  date  of  the  concession.  I  was  asked 
by  the  association  of  gentlemen  to  go  to  Nicaragua  and  make  final 
locations,  and  I  did  so,  and  plans  were  submitted  in  time.  Afterwards 
I  was  asked  to  go  to  Costa  Eica  and  get  similar  concessions  to  those 
granted  by  Nicaragua,  and  I  did  so,  and  turned  them  over  to  these  gen- 
tlemen. I  did  all  this  without  compensation,  except  the  interest  I  had 
in  seeing  the  canal  built,  believing  in  it  as  an  engineering  proposition. 

The  Chairman.  Those  concessions  were  made  in  the  form  of  con- 
tracts, were  they? 

Mr.  Menocal.  They  were  in  the  form  of  contracts  between  the  Gov- 
ernment of  Nicaragua  and  this  association  of  gentlemen,  with  the  power 
on  the  part  of  the  association  to  transfer  the  concessions  to  a  company 
or  organization.  When  the  company  was  subsequently  organized  the 
concessions  were  transferred  to  the  company. 

The  Chairman.  What  provision  is  there,  if  any,  in  that  construction 
grant  prohibiting  transfer  to  a  Government? 

Mr.  Menocal.  There  is  such  a  provision — that  it  was  not  to  be 
transferred  to  any  Government  as  a  whole. 

Mr.  Bennett.  By  whom  was  that  inserted? 

Mr.  Menocal.  By  the  Government  of  Nicaragua.  That  clause  was 
in  all  the  concessions  which  the  Government  had  made  to  other  parties, 
and  it  was  inserted  in  this  one. 

The  Chairman.  Would  there  be  any  violati(»u  of  the  terms  of  the 
concession  if  this  association  of  gentlemen  should  make  an  arrange- 
ment whereby  the  Government  would  obtain  control  through  owning 
the  majority  of  the  stock? 

Mr.  Menocal.  I  do  not  think  so.  I  do  not  see  how  there  can  be, 
because  the  company  would  have  the  right  to  sell  its  stock  in  the 


56  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

market  to  such  parties  as  wanted  to  buy,  whether  they  were  agents  of 
the  (loverument  or  private  individuals.  The  concession  does  not  pro- 
hibit the  company  from  selHng-  its  stock  to  the  best  bidder. 

The  Chaikman.  That  would  be  one  method  by  which  the  company 
could  transfer  it,  perhaps? 

Mr.  Menocal.  The  concession  need  not  be  transferred.  The  com- 
pany will  be  in  existence,  and  the  majority  of  the  shareholders  will 
control  that  company,  and  if  the  Government  holds  a  majority  of  the 
stock,  it  owns  the  concession  without  its  being  transferred.  That  is 
my  idea.  I  see  no  violation  of  the  concession,  and  I  may  say  that  the 
officials  in  Nicaragua  have  taken  the  same  view. 

The  Chairman.  Have  you  any  objection  to  stating  what  considera- 
tion in  money  was  given  for  that  concession'? 

Mr.  Menocal.  The  Government  of  Nicaragua  was  paid  $100,000. 
Fifty  thousand  dollars  was  paid  to  the  Government  for  the  right  of  way 
west  of  the  lake. 

The  Chaiiiman.  Was  any  money  consideration  paid  to  Costa  Rica? 

Mr.  Menocal.  No,  sir.  There  passed  through  my  hands  $100,000 
of  American  gold  which  was  paid  to  the  Government  of  Nicaragua.  If 
anything  else  has  been  paid,  I  am  not  aware  of  it.  This  money  was 
paid  at  the  time  the  concessions  were  made. 

The  Chairman.  What  other  obligations  were  assumed  with  refer- 
ence to  giving  stock? 

Mr.  Menocal.  The  Government  of  Nicaragua  was  to  receive  G  per 
cent,  and  the  Government  of  Costa  Eica  one-half  of  that,  or  3  per  cent. 

The  Chairman.  Have  you  any  knowledge  of  the  liabilities  of  the 
present  company? 

Mr.  Menocal.  No,  sir;  none  whatever.  My  connection  with  the 
company  is  entirely  professional.  When  they  have  wanted  my  services 
as  an  engineer  I  have  always  been  willing,  and  have  been  able,  so  far, 
to  assist  them.  I  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  negotiations  of  the  com- 
pany, and  could  not  tell  you  now  how  the  stock  stands.  In  fact  I  have 
no  time  for  that. 

Tlie  Chairman.  You  have  no  knowledge  as  to  the  stockholders  or  as 
to  the  finances? 

Mr.  Menocal.  No,  sir.  I  am  not  a  stockholder  as  a  speculator.  I 
am  not  acting  as  an  investor.  My  wife  had  a  little  money,  and  when 
the  company  was  in  financial  straits  we  init  it  in. 

Mr.  Patterson.  During  all  this  i)eriod  you  were  an  officer  of  the 
United  States? 

Mr.  Menocal.  I  was;  and  I  was  given  permission  by  the  Secretary 
of  the  Navy,  Mr.  Whitney,  to  accept  the  position  of  chief  engineer  of 
the  company — if  you  refer  to  the  time  of  the  construction  and  to  the 
concessions. 

Mr.  Patterson.  During  this  whole  service. 

Mr.  Menocal.  All  my  service  has  been  given  to  the  company  under 
orders  from  the  Government. 

Mr.  Patterson.  During  that  time  you  were  in  the  service  of  the 
Government? 

Mr.  Menocal.  Yes,  sir.  I  have  made  surveys  as  the  chief  engineer 
and  as  the  head  of  a  surveying  expedition  as  an  officer  of  the  Govern- 
ment.    I  was  ordered  there  to  do  this  work. 

Mr.  Patterson.  How  long  have  you  been  an  officer  of  the  Govern- 
ment? 

Mr.  Menocal.  Since  1872  in  the  Navy.  Whenever  I  have  gone  to 
Nicaragua  to  do  anything  I  have  done  so  with  the  special  permission 


NICARAGUA   CANAL. 


57 


of  the  Government  to  engage  myself  in  that  work,  knowing  exactly  for 
what  purpose  I  was  sent,  and  I  have  with  nie  an  indorsement  on  my 
application  from  Secretary  Whitney  stating  the  great  importance  to 
the  people  of  the  United  States  of  this  enterprise,  and  that  it  was  the 
least  the  Government  could  do  to  give  me  this  leave  in  order  that  my 
services  could  be  given  to  the  enterprise. 

Mr.  Bennett,  dsually  in  engineering  work  of  this  character  it  is 
done  in  sections,  and  the  cost  of  each  section  is  estimated*? 

Mr.  Menocal.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Bennett.  Which  section  of  the  canal  is  most  expensive? 

Mr.  Menocal.  The  most  expensive  section  is  the  deep  excavation 
21  miles,  nearly  3  miles— a  little  over  15,000  feet.  That  represents  21 
per  cent  of  the  cost  of  the  whole. 

Mr.  Bennett.  From  the  harbor  at  Greytown,  is  that  one  section? 

Mr.  Menocal.  That  is  one  section,  as  far  as  the  deep  cut;  then  to 
the  river  is  another  section;  then  from  the  river  to  the  lake  is  another 
section.     The  fourth  section  is  between  the  lake  and  the  Paciiic  Ocean. 

Mr.  Bennett.  The  section  from  Greytown  is  the  most  expensive? 

Mr.  Menocal.  Yes. 

Mr.  Bennett.  At  what  do  you  estimate  the  cost  of  the  Ochoa  dam? 

Mr.  Menocal.  Inside  of  $2,000,000. 

Mr.  Bennett.  What  do  you  estimate  the  cost  of  the  middle  section? 

Mr.  Menocal.  The  deep  cut?  It  is  difticult  to  remember  those  fig- 
ures, but  about  $13,000,000,  I  should  think,  speaking  from  memory. 

Mr.  Bennett.  At  what  do  you  estimate  the  cost  of  the  section  between 
Greytown  and  the  deep  cut? 

Mr,  Menocal.  The  canal,  locks  and  all,  would  cost  about  $10,000,000. 

Mr.  Bennett.  Then  you  go  over  to  the  other  side  of  the  lake,  where 
there  are  two  dams  and  wasteweir  and  the  Ochoa  dam? 

Mr.  Menocal.  There  is  only  one  weir.  Weirs  are  not  expensive. 
They  can  be  built  on  the  top  of  the  hill  on  the  solid  foundation,  and 
would  require  only  strengthening. 

Mr.  Bennett.  From  the  deep  cut  to  the  other  side  are  there  no  espe- 
cial engineering  difticulties  to  overcome? 

Mr.  Menocal.  There  is  no  serious  engineering  work  in  the  whole 
line  of  the  canal,  any  more  than  we  meet  with  every  day.  Tlie  Ochoa 
dam  is  a  heavy  piece  of  work.  It  is  not  regarded  as  a  serious  under- 
taking, considering  modern  methods. 

Mr.  Bennett.  From  the  deep  cut  to  the  other  side  of  the  lake  there 
is  no  practical  difficulty,  nothing  to  be  done  but  dredging? 

Mr.  Menocal.  Dredging  the  lake  and  river.  Between  the  lake  and 
the  Pacific  the  excavations  are  small — 70  feet  to  the  bottom  of  the 
canal  and  12  feet  to  the  level  of  the  canal. 

Mr.  Bennett.  What  would  be  your  estimate  of  construction  from 
the  lake  to  the  Pacific  coast  ? 

Mr.  Menocal.  The  whole  section  is  estimated  at  $14,000,000. 

Mr.  Sherman.  Is  it  not  true  that  the  cost  of  every  portion  of  the 
work  of  this  canal  has,  by  reason  of  the  invention  of  modern  machinery, 
been  decreased  since  you  made  your  estimate? 

Mr.  Menocal.  Very  much  so.  Our  estimates  were  nearly  double 
what  similar  work  has  been  done  for  in  this  country  since  that  time. 

Mr.  Bennett.  You  have  only  gotten  up  to  $40,000,000  for  the  work 
in  the  figures  you  have  given  me. 

Mr.  Menocal.  There  is  other  detailed  work  of  importance,  such  as 
the  harbor  and  breakwater.    The  full  estimate  is  $05,000,000. 


58  NICAEAGUA    CANAL. 

Mr.  Bennett.  Do  you  thiuk  it  can  be  completed  for  $65,000,000? 

Mr.  Menocal.  It  can  be  completed  inside  of  $70,000,000,  and  built 
of  tlie  dimensions  proposed — a  ship  canal  larger  than  any  in  the  world 
to-day. 

Mr.  Bennett.  To  what  depth  of  water? 

Mr.  Menocal.  Thirty  feet  throughout,  except  at  the  level  of  the  sea, 
where  I  have  estimated  only  28  feet,  which  gives  a  proper  depth  of  water. 
The  reason  the  estimate  was  limited  to  that  was  because  that  is  all  the 
traffic  requires,  and  it  can  be  increased  to  a  greater  depth  if  needed. 
But  I  do  not  think  it  will  be  needed.  There  is  no  ship  canal  to-day 
over  28  feet  deep. 

Mr.  Joy.  What  is  the  depth  of  the  Suez  Canal? 

Mr.  Menocal.  Twenty-six  feet.  It  was  22  feet,  but  it  has  been  grad- 
ually deepened.  Perlmps  now  it  is  24  feet  throughout.  We  have  esti- 
mated a  depth  of  28  feet  at  the  level  of  the  sea,  and  it  can  be  dredged 
and  made  deeper  later  on,  if  necessary,  when  the  traffic  requires  it. 
Except  as  to  the  dredging  in  the  river,  tlie  canal  is  30  feet  in  depth. 
To  increase  the  dei)tli  afterwards  would  not  be  expensive. 

Mr.  Joy.  It  has  been  stated  publicly  that  during  the  greater  part  of 
the  year  there  is  a  calm  existing  on  both  sides  of  the  canal. 

Mr.  Menocal.  That  is  not  the  case.  There  is  a  constant  breeze  from 
Greytown  to  Brito.  Tlie  trade  winds  never  fail  in  Greytown,  nor  on  the 
Pacific  Coast.  They  blow  right  through.  Tlie  breeze  was  so  strong, 
and  blew  so  steadily  off  shore,  that  we  found  it  difficult  to  make  surveys, 
for  fear  of  our  boats  being  capsized.     ' 

Mr.  Patterson.  Did  you  accompany  the  Commission  which  recently 
visited  the  site  of  this  canal? 

Mr.  Menocal.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Patterson.  I  would  like  you  to  state  somewhat  in  detail  what 
opportunities  those  gentlemen  liad  for  observation  and  reaching  correct 
conclusions,  and  wherein  they  differ  from  you  in  their  estimates;  and  if 
so,  why. 

Mr.  Menocal.  The  Commission  was  in  Nicaragua  altogether  forty 
days.  Of  these  forty  days,  a  total  of  two  weeks,  more  or  less,  was  spent 
in  examining  the  canal  route,  or  rather  the  canal  route  and  vicinity. 
Some  places  they  touched  and  others  they  did  not.  These  gentlemen 
traveled  by  the  most  comfortable  methods,  either  through  the  woods 
or  along  the  roads,  so  that  they  were  only  two  weeks  examining  the 
canal  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  coast.  They  were  detained  in 
Greytown  both  on  the  arrival  and  before  leaving. 

The  CnAiRMAN.  Please  state  just  what  methods  they  used. 

Mr.  Menocal.  They  arrived  in  Greytown  and  remained  a  week  wait- 
ing for  a  steamer  that  was  to  bring  certain  outfit  for  the  Commission. 
They  had  ordered  this  outfit,  but  the  Commission  arrived  before  the 
steamer  containing  the  outfit  arrived,  and  they  waited  a  week  for  it. 
They  then  went  up  the  river  and  had  to  transfer  in  the  river  from  one 
steamer  to  another  at  two  different  points.  They  then  came  to  the  lake 
and  went  to  Fort  San  Carlos.  There  is  only  one  steamer  on  the  lake, 
and  when  they  arrived  it  was  not  there,  and  the  Commission  had  to 
stay  two  days  waiting  for  this  steamer.  In  those  three  days  they  made 
a  trip  up  the  river  running  south,  and  they  also  took  a  river  steamer 
and  went  out  into  the  lake  and  took  borings  and  soundings.  They  came 
back  to  Fort  San  Carlos  and  waited  for  the  river  steamer.  When  it 
arrived  they  got  aboard  and  went  to  St.  George,  on  the  other  side  of 
the  lake,  where  they  landed  their  party  and  the  Commissioners,  and 
went  to  the  capitol  to  visit  the  President.    Next  day,  in  the  evening, 


NICARAGUA   CANAL. 


59 


tliey  arrived  at  Eivas,  3  miles  distaut,  from  the  lake  and  there  they 
stayed  two  or  three  days  hnntiug  horses  and  other  means  of  transporta- 
tion to  g'o  over  the  line  of  the  caual.  On  the  morning  of  the  third  day 
they  left  Eivas  and  Aveiit  toward  the  Pacific  Coast  to  a  point  3  miles 
from  Brito  and  passed  the  night.  Up  to  this  time  nothing  had  been 
seen  of  the  canal.  On  the  following  morning  they  went  to  Brito,  leav- 
ing camp  abont  7  o'clock  a.  m.  Arri  ving  at  Brito  they  stayed  there,  and 
the  gentlemen  had  time  to  take  baths  and  look  aronnd  a  little.  They 
then  came  back  to  the  same  camp,  following  more  or  less  the  line  of  the 
canal.  The  other  days  were  spent  in  traveling.  The  line  had  been 
cleared  for  the  Commission  from  one  end  to  the  other. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Were  any  borings  made? 

Mr.  Menocal.  No,  sir.  1  had  instruments  at  all  places  to  verify  every- 
thing, and  they  had  some  also,  bnt  no  surveys  were  made.  They  con- 
tinued in  this  way,  traveling  G  or  7  miles  a  day  to  the  lake,  and  then  went 
to  Eivas  for  transportation"  across  the  lake.  After  they  got  across  the 
lake,  they  went  to  Port  San  Carlos  and  spent  a  day  waiting  for  connec- 
tions, and  drifted  down  the  river  to  Ochoa.  At  Oclioa  they  landed  in 
the  afternoon  of  one  day  abont  2  o'clock,  and  looked  around  a  little, 
visited  the  ridge  line  and  the  region  of  the  San  Carlos  basin  south  of 
Ochoa.  They  spent  one  day  going  and  one  day  coming  back.  On  the 
second  day  they  arrived,  and  the  next  morning  they  started  on  their  way 
across  to  Greytown.    They  were  six  days  in  that  section. 

Mr.  Patterson.  If  I  understand  you,  no  instruments  were  used 
except  what  you  furnished. 

Mr.  Menocal.  Not  by  the  Commission. 

Mr.  Patterson.  And  my  information  further  is  that  in  locating 
the  route  of  this  canal  by  you  every  part  of  the  line  was  examined  and 
bored  and  that  you  knew  exactly  what  its  formation  was,  and  the  soil 
and  every  kind  of  material  through  which  you  must  go  in  order  to  make 
the  canal? 

Mr.  Menocal.  Yes,  sir;  I  had  taken  696  borings. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Nothing  of  that  kind  was  done  by  this  Commission  ? 

Mr.  Menocal.  No,  sir. 

Mr.  Patterson.  And  they  had  no  data,  except  what  they  got  from 
you  ? 

Mr.  Menocal.  They  had  nothing,  except  the  data  I  furnished.  I 
want  to  say  this  to  remove  misapprehension.  I  must  say  that  they  ran 
lines  around  Greytown  while  they  were  waiting.  Only  a  part  of  our 
instruments  were  used.  After  they  left  Greytown  they  sent  a  party 
back  to  make  a  survey  of  the  confluents  of  two  rivers.  I  will  point 
that  out  on  the  large  map.  As  we  were  about  leaving  Greytown  they 
sent  some  of  the  party  to  make  this  examination,  and  the  result  fully 
confirms  what  had  been  made  previously  by  me. 

Mr.  Patterson.  There  are  two  questions  in  that  connection.  Would 
it  not  be  possible  for  a  board  of  engineers  who  were  in  ])ossession  of 
the  maps  and  profiles,  surveys,  and  all  the  data  with  which  you  are 
familiju?  to  have  made  this  investigation  and  report  as  well  in  the 
privacy  of  an  oflice  in  Washington  as  to  make  report  on  the  cursory 
kind  of  examination  and  survey  which  they  gave? 

Mr.  Menocal.  1  think  so. 

Mr.  Patterson.  They  simply  walked  over  the  country  there  without 
aim  and  without  any  data  further  than  you  furnished? 

Mr.  Menocal.  Yes,  sir.  I  had  an  assistant  with  me  with  all  the 
lilans,  and  wherever  we  touched  the  line  my  assistant  took  the  plans, 
p;  ofiles,  and  borings,  and  T  (billed  their  attention  to  it  and  asked  them  to 
e:j* amine  the  plans.    1  said:  "1  v\'ant  you  to  satisfy  yourselves  that 


60  NICARAGUA   CANAL. 

these  plans  are  correct,  and  I  want  to  sLow  you  where  the  borings  were 
taken."  I  took  them  to  places  where  the  borings  were  made,  and  they 
saw  the  core  of  the  rock  and  the  lay  of  the  ground. 

Mr.  Pattekson.  Does  the  difference  between  your  estimate  of  the 
cost  of  this  canal  and  the  estimate  of  the  Commission  grow  out  of  any 
defect  or  criticism  of  your  work  ? 

Mr.  Menocal.  No,  sir. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Or  does  it  involve  additional  work? 

Mr.  Menocal.  There  is  no  criticism  of  the  work,  and  yet  there  is 
some  criticism  of  what  they  think  the  work  ought  to  be.  The  board 
admits  the  practicability  of  the  canal  as  proposed  by  the  company,  but 
they  have  i)roposed  changes  which  tend  to  increase  the  cost,  and  which 
are  entirely  unnecessary.  They  say  that  the  channel  in  the  river  should 
not  be  less  than  250  feet  wide,  and  in  the  lake  it  should  not  be  less  than 
300.  The  company  wanted  to  build  a  canal  economically,  which  would 
accommodate  the  traffic  of  the  world.  They  wanted  to,  at  the  same 
time,  build  it  for  such  an  amount  of  money  as  would  pay  a  reasonable 
return  uj^on  the  cai)ital  invested.  They  intended  that  it  could  be 
enlarged  when  the  traffic  of  the  ocean  required  it. 

The  Chairman.  With  the  facilities  the  board  had,  how  long  would 
it  have  required  to  have  verified  all  of  your  work? 

Mr.  Menocal.  Oh,  that  would  have  required  several  years'  work  and 
observations  if  they  had  attempted  to  verify  the  surveys  and  borings  in 
detail.  I  told  the  Commissioners  that  the  surveys  and  borings  had  all 
been  carefully  made;  that  I  had  an  accurate  record  of  them  all;  that 
a  large  number  of  men  were  employed  in  the  work,  and  that  I  had  engi- 
neers of  experience  to  conduct  the  work.  I  was  repeatedly  told  by 
them  that  they  had  no  reason  to  doubt  the  accuracy  of  our  surveys.  I 
followed  them  step  by  step,  with  profiles  and  maps  and  plans,  showing 
the  results  of  the  borings  and  surveys,  and  called  their  attention  con- 
stantly to  the  different  parts  of  the  route,  and  very  frequently  invited 
them  to  verify  those  plans,  maps,  and  surveys.  It  is  said  that  we  did 
not  take  borings  enough  at  the  site  of  the  Oclioa  Dam.  I  think  we 
have.  We  have  taken  seventeen  borings  there,  which  show  only  two 
kinds  of  material,  clay  abutments  and  sand,  in  the  bed  of  the  river. 
We  have  penetrated  sufficiently  to  satisfy  us  that  a  stone  dam  there  is 
not  i)racticable,  except  at  enormous  cost;  that  the  building  of  such  an 
expensive  dam  is  unnecessary,  and  that  other  methods  must  be  a]>plied 
in  order  to  obtain  the  necessary  results  of  impounding  the  water  to  the 
necessary  elevation. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Do  you  mean  a  masonry  dam? 

Mr.  Menocal.  Yes,  sir;  that  such  a  dam  is  commercially  impracti- 
cable. That  it  could  be  built,  but  it  would  be  enormously  expensive. 
Knowing  that  and  satisfying  ourselves  by  the  17  borings  at  the  site  of 
the  dam  that  there  was  no  rock  foundation,  and  that  we  had  only  clay 
hills  as  abutments  and  sand  in  the  bed  of  the  river,  we  arrived  at 
another  method  for  building  the  dam,  which  we  regard  as  safer  and 
cheaper,  than  a  masonry  dam,  and  the  dam  we  propose  I  believe  to 
be  indestructible  either  by  floods  or  earthquakes.  This  dam  is  very 
simple.  Having  strengthening  abutments  of  clay  hills  on  both  sides 
of  the  river,  the  method  proposed  is  merely  to  dump  the  stone  obtained 
from  that  deep  excavation  into  the  bed  of  the  river,  giving  the  dam  a 
very  large  base  as  com^jared  to  the  height.  That  is  to  say,  the  height 
of  the  dam  will  be  about  CO  feet  above  the  bed  of  the  river.  I  propose 
to  give  it  a  base  of  about  1,000  feet,  composed  of  large  rocks,  weighing 
from  4  to  10  tons  deposited  iu  the  bed  of  the  river,  the  voids  to  be 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  61 

filled  by  smaller  material,  and  then  an  embankment  on  the  upper  side  of 
the  dam  of  still  smaller  material,  to  make  the  dam  tight,  as  required  to 
impouud  the  waters  of  the  river.  Such  a  dam  will  leak,  but  our  object  is 
not  to  store  water,  but  only  to  arrest  the  free  flow  so  as  to  raise  it  to  a 
certain  elevation.  When  we  have  raised  the  water  to  that  elevation 
our  object  is  accomplished,  and  if  a  portion  of  the  surplus  waters  per- 
colate through  the  dam  there  is  no  harm  done.  The  dam  will  eventually 
become  tight.  This  is  inevitable  by  the  silt  of  the  river  itself.  This 
is  a  simple  description  of  what  we  propose  to  do.  We  propose  to 
build  that  dam  contending  with  the  flow  of  the  river.  In  fact,  I 
believe  that  the  only  safe  way  to  build  a  dam  is  by  contending  with 
the  flow  of  the  river,  so  as  to  assist  us  in  distributing  this  material 
until  every  stone  and  every  pebble  has  found  arresting  place.  The 
Commission  has  stated  in  its  report  that  the  dam  is  practicable,  but 
that  they  propose  some  modifications;  one  of  which  I  think  is  unneces- 
sary but  extremely  expensive,  the  other  I  think  will  lead  to  disaster  if 
carried  out. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Is  the  current  of  the  Sau  Carlos  of  any  assistance 
in  this  work? 

Mr.  Menocal.  It  forms  part  of  the  San  Juan  itself,  and  we  ignore 
the  San  Carlos,  for  the  reason  that  it  is  already  merged  in  the  San 
Juan  and  becomes  a  part  of  the  main  river,  the  dam  being  5  miles  below 
the  confluence  of  the  two  rivers. 

Mr.  NooNAN.  In  reply  to  a  question  of  Mr.  Patterson  you  stated 
that  those  Commissioners  could  compile  their  report  as  well  from  the 
data  which  you  have  as  by  going  over  the  ground.  Don't  you  think 
there  is  some  advantage  in  getting  a  contour  of  the  country? 

Mr.  Menocal.  They  did  get  the  contour  of  the  country.  None  of 
them  had  visited  the  tropics,  I  believe,  and  they  got  an  idea  of  the 
country  and  shores.  I  believe  none  of  them  had  been  south  of  Key 
West,  and  everything  was  novel  to  them — the  country  and  vegetation 
and  animals  and  rivers.  Everything  was  new  to  them,  the  rainfalls 
and  the  heat  of  the  sun — all  this  was  novel. 

Mr.  NooNAN.  If  those  men  had  experience,  would  it  not  give  them 
some  idea  of  the  cost  to  travel  as  they  did  over  the  route  i^roposed? 

Mr.  Menocal.  Yes,  sir;  I  think  so. 

Mr.  Noon  AN.  Without  actually  surveying? 

Mr.  JNIenocal.  Yes,  sir;  I  think  so. 

Mr.  KooNAN.  That  is,  give  them  a  safe  conjecture  in  regard  to  it? 

Mr.  Menocal.  Yes,  sir;  observation,  no  matter  how  short  the  time, 
will  enable  one  to  arrive  at  conclusions  that  can  not  well  be  reached  by 
other  methods. 

Mr.  ISTooNAN.  My  object  in  asking  you  this  question  was  to  have  you 
qualify  your  answer  to  the  question  of  Mr.  Patterson.  My  question 
was  what  might  be  called  a  leading  question. 

Mr.  Menocal.  I  think  this,  that  some  of  the  examinations  were 
very  suj^erficial.  I  was  si)eaking  only  of  this  particular  case  when  I 
answered  Mr.  Patterson.  I  had  only  in  mind  the  superficial  examina- 
tion made  by  this  board.  In  order  to  be  materially  assisted  by  the 
inspection  of  the  ground  the  engineers  ought  to  have  been  there  in 
the  rainy  and  dry  seasons — to  be  there  at  difl'erent  times  of  the  year — 
as  the-rainfall  varies  very  much.  An  inspection  of  two  weeks  in  either 
the  rainy  season  or  the  dry  season,  or  the  season  intermediate  between 
the  two,  gives  only  a  very  superficial  knowledge,  which  is  misleading, 
because  they  jiL^lge  from  the  conditions  they  have  been  able  to  observe 
in  that  short  lengtli  of  time.  This  statement  is  verified  by  the  great 
divergence  of  opinion  between  the  members  of  the  Board  and  practical 


62  NICARAGUA   CANAL. 

contractors,  who  had  spent  several  months  in  Nicaragua  both  in  the  rainy- 
season  and  in  the  dry  season.  These  gentlemen  went  there  for  the  pur- 
pose of  getting  tlie  necessary  information  to  enable  them  to  bid  for  the 
work,  when  the  company  was  getting  ready  to  commence  the  construc- 
tion, and  they  spent  six  or  eight  months — even  more  than  that — in  that 
country.  They  offered  to  build  this  railroad  through  the  swamps,  which 
is  regarded  as  the  most  difficult  part  of  the  line,  and  over  a  portion  of 
the  hilly  country  also,  to  see  how  they  could  handle  the  men,  how  much 
it  would  cost  them,  and  what  work  they  could  get  out  of  the  men.  Con- 
tractors from  Chicago  and  from  California  were  there  for  quite  a  long- 
time, and  they  built  this  railroad,  as  I  have  said,  for  about  one-half  the 
estimated  cost.  These  gentlemen,  after  gaining  all  this  experience, 
are  now  ready  to  bid  for  the  whole  work  of  the  canal  inside  of  my 
estimate. 

Mr.  Joy.  You  say  they  are  ready  to  bid  for  this  work  inside  your 
esthnatc'? 

Mr.  jMenocal.  Yes,  sir;  to  build  that  canal,  and  these  men  know 
what  they  are  talking  about.  They  not  only  followed  every  boring  we 
took,  and  followed  the  engineers  and  camped  out  with  the  engineers, 
but  then  looked  into  the  question  of  how  much  work  they  could  get  out 
of  a  laborer,  and  volunteered  to  build  that  railroad  for  the  cost,  with 
10  per  cent  to  pay  for  the  clerical  work. 

Mr.  Corliss.  Do  I  understand  you  that  the  contractors  are  ready 
to  take  the  contract  for  this  entire  work,  according  to  your  plan,  inside 
of  your  estimate  of  $65,000,000? 

Mr.  MioNocAL.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Bennett.  Those  gentlemen  would  be  willing  to  appear  before 
this  committee? 

Mr,  Menocal.  Yes,  sir;  I  think  so.  I  have  a  letter  from  one  of  them 
now,  saying  that  they  are  willing  to  take  the  contract  inside  of  my 
estimates,  for  the  different  parts  of  the  work;  or,  otherwise,  they  will 
take  a  contract  to  build  the  whole  canal,  bear  the  entire  expense,  and 
run  all  risks,  inside  of  $100,000,000. 

Mr.  Patterson.  The  thought  I  had  was  this:  That  while  intelligent 
and  educated  gentlemen,  engineers,  might  walk  or  ride  through  a 
country  and  form  a  general  idea  of  its  topography,  yet  such  information, 
when  it  came  to  estimating  the  cost  of  a  canal,  its  excavation  and  the 
material  that  would  have  to  be  excavated  and  the  amount  of  the 
material  and  all  that,  is  worth  but  very  little. 

Mr.  Menocal.  Very  little;  yes,  sir,  and  may  be  misleading. 

Mr.  Patterson.  And  at  last  it  must  be  based  upon  the  actual  sur- 
veys, the  profiles,  and  data. 

Mr.  Menocal.  Our  plans  are  so  complete  and  perfect — and  the  Board 
had  to  admit  that — that  any  engineer  can  get  a  perfect  knowledge  of 
the  topography  of  the  country  by  an  inspection  of  these  plans  and 
charts.  Every  boring  is  marked.  In  the  dee])  cut  we  have  taken  many 
borijigs,  and  at  the  sites  of  the  locks,  I  think,  120  borings  were  made. 
It  was  almost  unnecessary  to  bore  as  much  as  that,  because  the  materials 
are  uniform. 

Mr.  Bennett.  Have  you  a  side  elevation  of  the  proposed  canal? 

Mr.  Menocal.  I  do  not  know  that  I  have  it  here.     I  will  see. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Before  you  proceed  with  that,  allow  me  to  ask  one 
question.  Please  state  about  what  length  of  time  the  engineers  spent 
at  the  Ochoa  dam,  and  tell  about  the  examination  that  was  made  there, 
at  the  site  of  the  dam. 

Mr.  jNIenocal.  Not  any.  They  did  not  examine  the  site  of  the  damj 
they  passed  by  it. 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  63 

Mr.  Bennett.  If  tliey  passed  by  such  an  important  piece  of  work, 
estimated  to  cost  millions  of  dollars,  without  investigating  it,  what 
would  their  investigation  amount  to? 

Mr.  Menocal.  I  am  not  prepared  to  answer  that.  I  only  say  they 
passed  by  there.  I  had  fixed  all  their  camps  so  that  they  would  have 
an  opportunity  of  examining  the  most  important  sites,  and  one  of  the 
camps  was  at  the  Ochoa  Dam  itself.  They  slei)t  there  two  nights,  and, 
as  I  said,  they  went  one  day  to  examine  the  adjacent  hills.  I  had  a 
camp  here  [exhibiting  on  map],  and  six  days'  i)rovisious,  and  a  number 
of  engineers.  They  arrived  in  the  afternoon  and  looked  around  for 
half  a  mile  or  so  and  came  back  to  the  camp;  the  next  morning  they 
started  for  the  San  Carlos  ridge  line.  I  sent  the  boats  here  to  bring 
them  back  [exhibiting  on  the  map],  and  on  the  following  day  they  found 
them  here  and  brought  them  back,  and  they  arrived  at  the  camp  about 
4  o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  ISText  morning  they  started  to  look  over  the 
line  of  the  canal  and  never  had  any  time  for  an  examination  of  the  site 
of  the  dam. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  What  examination  did  they  make  personally  of  the 
river  from  Ochoa  to  the  lake — that  is,  as  to  the  material? 

Mr.  Menocal.  They  went  up  the  river  in  a  steamboat,  traveling  at 
night  occasionally.  In  the  daytime  they  could  see  the  banks;  at  night 
nothing. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  In  this  report,  a  considerable  sum  is  added  to  your 
estimate  on  account  of  supposed  rock  excavation  in  the  bed  of  the  river. 

Mr.  Menocal.  That  is  due  more  especially  to  the  larger  dimensions 
proposed  by  the  Board.  They  do  not  question  our  estimates  so  ftir  as 
the  quality  of  the  material  to  be  removed  is  concerned,  although  it  is 
hinted  here  and  there  that  the  borings  are  not  sufficient,  but  still  they 
think  that  the  material  estimated  as  dredging  is  dredging  and  what  I 
estimate  as  rock  is  rock.  The  fact  is,  that  wherever  there  were  indica- 
tions of  rock  I  estimated  it  as  all  rock.  In  the  river  the  width  is  esti- 
mated at  125  feet,  as  I  said  before,  and  the  Board  has  increased  that  to  250 
feet,  and  it  is  estimated  at  300  i'eet  in  the  bends  of  the  river.  They  have 
also  increased  the  cost  of  both  the  dredging  and  the  rock  excavation 
in  the  river  considerably.  The  rock  excavation  has  been  raised  from 
$3  a  cubic  yard  to  $5,  and  the  dredging  has  been  increased  by  about 
50  per  cent  of  my  estimates. 

Mr.  Wanger.  They  add  $1,000,000  for  hospital. 

Mr.  Menocal.  Yes,  sir;  we  had  as  many  as  2,500  men  employed  in 
Nicaragua,  and  we  built  hospitals  to  accommodate  all  the  sick  in  that 
length  of  time,  and  I  believe  the  cost  of  the  hospitals,  outfit,  and  every- 
thing complete  did  not  exceed  $25,000.  We  were  very  highly  compli- 
mented by  those  who  visited  the  canal — English  and  American  officers 
and  engineers — upon  our  hospital  arrangements.  I  think  the  hospital 
w^as  as  perfectly  conducted  and  managed  as  any  hospital  is  in  any  i^art 
of  the  world — not  so  luxurious  as  some,  but  we  had  a  ]arge  staff  of  ofli- 
cers  and  all  the  necessary  supplies  and  comforts  for  the  sick.  It  did 
not  cost  the  company,  I  think,  buildings  and  all,  together  with  instru- 
ments and  bedding,  and  all  that,  more  than  $40,000.  I  think  that 
$200,000  will  provide  for  all  the  hosiiitals  and  appliances  thereto  along 
the  whole  line  of  the  canal.  Of  course,  a  great  deal  more  can  be  spent 
if  it  is  desired  to  put  up  luxurious  buildings,  as  was  done  in  Panama. 
There  $4,000,000  were  spent  for  this  purpose  alone. 

Mr.  Joy.  The  Commission  say  that  they  deem  the  building  of  this 
dam  impracticable  on  account  of  the  dangerous  foundation  on  which  it 
would  have  to  be  built.    What  have  you  to  say  as  to  the  foundation? 

Mr.  Menocal.  I  think  their  conclusions,  as  you  will  see  in  the  report, 


64  NICARAGUA   CANAL. 

are  tbat  the  rock-fill  dam  is  practical,  but  they  have  added  a  great  deal 
on  account  of  the  methods  they  propose  for  strengthening  the  abut- 
ments. They  have  increased  the  estimate  from  $50,000  to  $500,000, 
and  have  also  increased  the  cost  by  $1,500,000,  i)roviding  for  a  series 
of  sluices  in  the  vicinity  of  the  dam  to  get  rid  of  the  river  during  the 
construction  of  this  mound.  I  call  the  dam  a  mound.  That  is  what  it 
is — inst  a  pile  of  rocks.  On  account  of  these  sluices  they  have  added 
$1,500,000. 

Mr.  OoiiLiss.  That  would  be  a  detriment. 

Mr.  Menocal.  I  regard  the  estimate  of  $500,000  for  strengthening 
the  dam  as  a  gross  exaggeration;  and  I  regard  the  other  estimate  of 
$1,500,000  to  take  away  the  flow  of  the  river  during  the  construction 
of  the  dam  as  dangerous  and  likely  to  lead  to  disaster.  My  proposition 
is  to  build  this  dam  with  the  assistance  of  the  river.  Stones  will  be 
dumped,  as  many  as  are  required,  and  the  river  will  assist  us  in  deposit- 
ing these  stones,  until  every  one  of  them  has  obtained  a  resting  place. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Until  a  barrier,  like  one  of  nature's  barriers,  is 
created  there. 

Mr.  Menocal.  Necessarily.  We  will  continue  dumping  these  stones, 
and  the  water  will  gradually  rise,  small  material  filling  in  the  voids.  As 
I  have  stated,  the  river  itself  will  aid  us  in  building  this  great  mound 
across  the  river.  While  we  are  dumping  these  big  rocks  in  the  river, 
of  course  we  are  all  the  time  contending  with  the  fiow  of  the  water,  aiid 
when  we  have  completed  the  dam  we  have  controlled  the  element  with 
which  we  have  been  contending.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  if  you  take  away 
the  river  from  this  mound  and  build  it  free  from  the  water,  the  result 
will  be  tbat  when  you  bring  the  river  back,  and  the  water  acts  with  a 
hydraulic  head  on  the  dam  and  the  foundations,  there  will  be  a  sudden 
settling  of  the  mass.  This  will  take  place  suddenly,  instead  of  grad- 
ually. The  mass  of  stone  will  sink,  a  portion  be  carried  away,  and  the 
repairs  would  be  very  expensive.  This  is  the  main  point  upon  which 
we  mainly  differ  from  the  board.  The  board  thinks  a  masonry  dam 
will  be  better.  It  can  not  be  brought  within  a  reasonable  cost,  and  I 
believe  this  rock-fill  dam  is  the  best  and  cheapest. 

Mr.  Joy.  Where  is  there  to-day  existing  any  dam  of  considerable 
dimensions  similarly  constructed  to  the  dam  proposed  by  you  at  Ochoa? 

Mr.  Menocal.  There  are  several  in  India  thousands  of  feet  in  length 
and  on  sandy  river  beds,  not  across  such  an  insignificant  river  as  the 
San  Juan,  which  is  insignificant  compared  with  the  Ganges  or  other 
Indian  rivers.  The  Ganges  is  a  river  of  enormous  fiow.  Over  some  oi 
the  dams  in  India  over  1,000,000  cubic  feet  of  water  flow  per  second  in 
times  of  flood,  the  water  running  in  some  cases  20  feet  above  the  weirs. 
In  Nicaragua  it  is  estimated  that  the  greatest  flow  of  water  over  the 
dam  will  be  150,000  cubic  feet  per  second,  not  much  more  than  a  tenth 
of  the  flow  over  the  Indian  dams;  and  yet  these  dams  are  built  in  a  soft 
river  bed,  with  soft  soil  banks.  They  have  stood  there  for  years;  not 
as  high  as  the  Ochoa  dam.  It  is  only  a  question  of  proportion  of 
dimensions.  The  highest  of  them  in  India  is  perhaps  22  feet.  That  is 
the  highest  I  know  of.  In  Nicaragua  it  will  be  a  little  over  double  that, 
with  the  advantage  that  in  building  the  Nicaragua  dam  we  have  all  the 
stone  that  is  required.  It  is  right  there.  It  only  has  to  be  blasted  and 
dumped  in  the  river. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  How  far  from  the  dam  is  the  stone? 

Mr.  Menocal.  About  12  miles.  You  could  not  get  a  better  dumiiing 
place. 

]Mr.  Joy.  At  these  points,  where  you  pr()])()se  to  erect  the  locks,  have 
your  borings  demonstrated  that  you  can  find  a  solid  foundation? 


NICARAGUA   CANAL.  65 

Mr.  Menocal.  No  question  about  tliat.  There  is  not  the  least  doubt 
about  that.  At  the  sites  of  some  of  the  locks  there  were  as  many  as  a 
.  hundred  borings  made.  It  is  not  rock  foundation,  but  hard  clay  founda- 
tion, which  is  equivalent  to  soft  rock — better,  because  it  is  perfectly 
water-tight. 

Mr.  Corliss.  Why,  in  your  judgment,  did  the  board  feel  it  necessary 
to  recommend  a  wider  excavation  in  the  river  than  that  planned  by 
yourself? 

Mr.  Menocal.  I  do  not  know.  Perhaps  because  the  board  was 
familiar  with  the  canals  connecting  the  Great  Lakes,  and  with  other 
similar  canals.  We  propose  a  ship  canal,  through  which  there  will  pass 
only  G,  8,  or  10  ships  a  day.  They  probably  had  in  view  canals  with 
which  they  were  familiar.  For  example,  there  passed  through  the  Sault 
Ste.  Marie  Canal,  according  to  figures  for  the  last  season  of  231  days, 
about  17,000,000  tonnage  in  that  time,  or  at  the  rate  of  about  26,000,000 
tons  a  year.  The  canal  was  open  for  navigation  231  days  in  the  last  year 
I  have,  in  which  time  there  ijassed  through  about  18,000  vessels,  steam- 
ers, tugs,  ships,  scows,  etc.  There  is  such  comj)etition  on  the  tonnage 
that  passes  through  that  canal  that  every  minute  and  every  mile  counts. 
Passing  to  the  Nicaragua  Canal,  the  traffic  there  will  probably  not 
exceed  10,000,000  tons.  The  company  has  never  estimated  that  much  or 
about  7  or  8  ships  a  day,  2,500  tons  average  capacity.  Instead  of  sav- 
ing 50  or  100  miles  by  the  Nicaragua  Canal,  as  is  the  case  with  these 
Great  Lakes  canals  in  some  cases,  there  will  be  a  saving  of  hundreds 
and  thousands  of  miles,  and  therefore  the  loss  of  a  few  hours  or  a  few 
days  plays  no  part  whatever  in  the  question  of  the  trip  from  one  point  to 
another.    So  you  see  the  great  difference  between  the  one  and  the  other. 

Now,  these  gentlemen  in  considering  the  Nicaragua  Canal  had  in 
mind  the  conditions  existing  in  connection  with  the  canals  at  the  Great 
Lakes.  The  conditions  are  entirely  different.  There  is  no  ship  canal 
to-day  that  has  the  dimensions  we  propose  for  the  Nicaragua  Canal. 
The  Suez  Canal  to-day  is  not  100  feet  wide  throughout  the  whole  length. 
Lately  they  have  commenced  to  enlarge  it,  and  it  is  112  feet  for  some 
of  its  length.  The  Manchester  Canal  has  just  been  comiileted  with  a 
width  of  120  feet;  the  Kiel  Canal  85  feet.  We  have  proposed  125  feet 
in  the  river,  150  feet  in  the  lake,  and  100  feet  in  the  rock  excavation. 
This  is  to  be  wider  than  the  Kiel  Canal  and  the  Suez  Canal. 

The  Chairman.  Would  there  not  be  this  difference  in  the  canals  you 
have  mentioned :  They  have  soft  bottom  and  sides,  while  here  they  are 
made  of  jagged  rocks,  which  would  make  greater  width  necessary  f 

Mr.  Menocal.  You  mean  between  the  lakes'?  The  channel  between 
the  lakes  is  excavated  as  well.  There  the  vessels  pass  going  at  full 
speed.  In  the  Nicaragua  Canal  it  is  not  estimated  that  they  will  go 
more  than  5  or  6  miles  an  hour.  I  have  a  letter  from  the  chief  engineer 
of  the  Manchester  Canal.  I  asked  him  if  he  thought  there  was  any 
difficulty  of  ships  i)assing  at  all  points,  with  the  canal  120  feet  wide — 
5  feet  less  than  I  have  proposed,  in  the  river,  and  the  same  depth  in  all 
other  portions,  except  the  deep  cut — and  he  tells  me  that  there  will  be 
no  difiBculty  whatever  in  their  passing  at  all  times  and  meeting  at  all 
places,  at  the  rate  of  6  miles  an  hour.  I  have  this  letter  from  the  chief 
engineer  of  the  London  docks.  At  any  rate,  we  have  numerous  basins 
in  the  river  itself  and  the  artificial  basins  that  we  have  made,  and  the 
traffic  can  be  so  regulated  that  there  will  be  no  necessity  for  passing  at 
all  points.  It  is  not  intended  to  pass  at  all  points.  It  has  ntit  been 
done  in  the  Suez  Canal.  Why  should  this  be  made  an  exception  to  all 
other  ship  canals  in  the  world  ? 

N  c 5 


C)6  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

Mr.  Jot.  Ton  propose  to  use  the  river  in  place  of  the  caual  at  Oclioa. 
What  is  the  sharpest  curvature? 

Mr.  Menocal.  Three  thousand  feet. 

Mr.  Joy.  Can  one  of  the  hirge  vessels  go  through  without  a  tow  boat? 

Mr.  Menocal.  Yes,  sir;  we  have  the  opinion  of  the  exjierience  of 
naval  ollicers  and  experienced  captains  of  merchant  ships — captains  of 
the  Pacific  Mail  steamers,  who  have  gone  over  the  ground  with  me.  It 
is  their  opinion  that  there  will  be  no  difficulty  whatever  in  ships  going 
through.  However,  in  one  or  two  points  I  have  estimated  to  cut  off  the 
bend  of  the  river  to  a  considerable  extent. 

Mr.  Bennett.  Then  a  ship  going  through  with  its  own  power  would 
not  injure  it? 

Mr,  Menocal.  The  sides  of  the  canal  are  supposed  to  be  lined  with 
stone  anyway  where  the  sides  are  soft. 

Mr.  Joy.  How  much  distance  in  the  lake  do  you  figure  will  have  to 
be  excavated  ? 

Mr.  Menocal.  Fourteen  miles  to  get  a  30-foot  depth  of  water.  Now, 
in  regard  to  this  width  of  the  canal.  First,  the  canal  is  estimated  at 
120  feet  wide.  The  slopes  are  estimated  at  3  to  1,  and  in  the  lake  also 
3  to  1.  Maybe  in  the  lake  it  will  require  as  much  as  5  to  1.  If 
you  take  a  ship  drawing  20  feet  of  water,  you  will  have  180  feet  between 
the  banks.  You  see  by  the  slope  there  would  be  180  instead  of  120  feet, 
and  in  the  lake  there  would  be  still  more,  because  the  slopes  are  flat. 
So,  while  we  have  estimated  120  feet,  that  is  only  at  the  bottom,  and  as 
the  average  draft  of  ships  would  be  about  20  feet  and  the  maximum 
25  feet — tliere  are  few  anywhere  to-day  more  than  that — there  would 
be  a  margin  in  all  cases  very  much  larger  than  we  have  proposed. 

Mr.  Joy.  You  do  not  think  there  will  be  any  danger  of  the  flooding 
of  the  sands  by  the  action  of  the  water  and  by  the  excavation  in  the 
lake  itself? 

Mr.  Menocal.  No,  sir;  I  do  not.  There  is  no  current  there,  and 
there  is  no  reason  why  it  should.  The  lake  is  large  and  the  discharge 
is  comi)aratively  small.  The  basins  are  small  as  compared  to  the  area 
of  the  section.     Consequently,  the  current  in  the  lake  is  imperceptible. 

Mr.  Corliss.  Would  it  not  have  a  tendency  to  lower  the  level? 

Mr.  Menocal.  No,  sir;  it  would  be  an  average  of  110  feet  above  sea 
level  by  the  Oclioa  dam.  Necessarily  there  would  be  fluctuations. 
The  level  would  probably  fluctnate  3  feet — from  108i  feet  to,  say.  111  J.  I 
do  not  think  the  Commission  disagrees  with  me,  but  they  seem  to  have 
thouglit  that  when  I  said  110  feet  above  sea  level  that  I  meant  this  level 
was  i)ermanent.  I  could  not  mean  anything  of  the  kind,  because  the 
lake  nuist  fluctuate  up  and  down  between  the  rainy  and  the  dry  sea- 
sons, and  when  I  said  110  feet  I  meant  the  average.  It  may  fall  a  foot 
and  a  half.  It  may  rise  a  foot  and  a  half  above  tliat,  yet  leaving  a 
greater  depth  than  we  have  in  any  shij)  caual  in  the  world  to-day. 


A  REVIEW  OF  THE  REPORT  OP  THE  BOARD  OP  ENGINEERS, 
APPOINTED  UNDER  ACT  OF  CONGRESS,  TO  EXAMINE  AND 
REPORT  UPON   THE  NICARAGUA   CANAL   PROJECT. 

By  Civil  Engineer  A.  G.  Menocal,  U.  S.  N. 

To  anyone  familiar  with  the  project  of  the  interocoaTiic  canal  across 
the  American  Isthmus,  as  it  is  proposed  to  be  constructed  by  the  Mari- 
time Canal  Company  of  Nicaragua,  the  first  and  continually  prominent 


NICARAGUA   CANAL.  67 

fact  that  commands  attention  in  considering  the  report  of  the  Boar<l  of 
Engineers  appointed  by  the  United  States  Government  to  consider  the 
feasibility,  etc.,  of  the  enterprise,  is  that  the  subject  is  treated  by  the 
company  and  by  the  Board  from  two  entirely  different  and  distinct 
points  of  view. 

Tlie  company  regards  and  has  treated  the  project  as  a  business  enter- 
prise, with  a  View  to  commercial  requirements,  technical  success,  and 
tinancial  results.  The  Board  entirely  ignores  two  of  these  conditions 
and  considers  it  from  the  point  of  unlimited  expenditure  without  any 
question  as  to  financial  results,  and  provides  beyond  commercial  require- 
ments of  tlie  present  for  the  accommodation  of  demands  that,  at  the 
utmost,  can  only  be  claimed  to  be  rarely  occasional. 

The  only  point  on  which  there  is  agreement  is  the  entire  feasibility  of 
the  project.  As  to  this,  the  claims  of  the  company  are  conceded  by  the 
Board,  and  any  difference  that  exists  as  to  the  methods  by  which  the 
work  may  be  achieved  is  measurable  by  increased  cost  of  construction. 

Whether  such  increase  of  cost  is  a  necessary  factor  in  the  problem  is 
then  the  question  at  issue,  and  that  to  which  I  have  i^articularly 
directed  my  attention. 

In  discussing  this  question  it  is  my  i)urpose  to  review  in  the  most 
concise  form  consistent  with  the  importance  of  the  subject  the  conclu- 
sions set  forth  in  the  report,  and  to  show  that  the  numerous  changes 
proposed  along  the  route,  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  are  the 
natural  result  of  tlie  premises  on  which  the  Board  appears  to  have 
acted  and  their  insufficient  observations,  made  on  a  hasty  trip  through 
the  territory  traversed  by  the  canal,  which  touched  the  canal  route 
here  and  there  only,  as  was  most  convenient  to  the  line  of  travel  fol- 
lowed, and  the  consequent  imperfect  knowledge  of  the  physical  condi 
tions,  of  the  problems,  and  of  the  amount  and  character  of  the  work 
previously  done  to  develop  and  utilize  to  the  best  advantages  the 
natural  features  of  the  country,  the  necessary  requirements  of  the  canal 
proposed  to  be  built  by  the  company,  and  the  provisions  and  spirit  of 
the  concessions  under  which  the  canal  is  to  be  built. 

The  canal  projected  and  estimated  for  by  the  company  is  intended  to 
be  built  and  operated  by  a  private  corporation,  with  private  capital 
and  as  a  business  enterprise.  It  is  to  bo  large  enough  to  pass  safely 
all  the  traffic  likely  to  seek  the  route,  but  to  be  constructed  economic- 
ally, so  as  to  pay  reasonable  returns  on  the  capital  invested.  There  is 
a  marked  distinction  between  such  a  waterway  and  an  ideal  canal,  of 
ideal  proportions,  built  regardless  of  cost.  It  is  claimed  that  the  canal 
designed  by  the  company  is  ample  to  satisfy  the  requirements  of  com- 
merce and  larger  in  its  dimensions  than  any  other  ship  canal  built  and 
in  actual  operation  in  the  world,  except,  if  they  can  be  classed  as  ship 
canals,  the  waterways  joining  the  American  lakes,  in  which  the  condi- 
tions of  traffic  are  peculiar  to  those  localities  and  entirely  difiereut 
from  those  jiertaining  to  ocean  traffic. 

It  is  quite  remarkable  that  in  the  numerous  changes  proposed  by  the 
Board  there  is  not  one  in  the  line  of  economy  or  in  the  interest  of  a 
better  canal.  On  the  well-recognized  principle  that  the  best  engineer- 
ing consists  in  obtaining  the  results  desired  at  the  least  expense,  increase 
in  dimensions  of  locks,  channels,  etc.,  beyond  what  is  actually  needed 
for  the  safe  and  commodious  passage  of  ships,  which  involve  enormously 
increased  expense  in  first  cost,  can  not  be  accepted  as  improvements 
in  such  a  business  enterprise  as  is  contemplated  by  the  company. 

The  Board  lays  considerable  stress  on  what  is  claimed  to  bo  the 
insufficiency  of  the  hydraulic  and  geological  data  collected  by  the  com- 


08  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

pauy,  and  dwells  at  great  length  on  the  need  of  the  fullest  and  most 
precise  information,  accurately  recorded  and  carefully  studied,  of  the 
varying  rainfall  and  floods  of  the  lake  and  rivers,  the  gauging  of  all 
the  water  courses  concerned,  following  their  variations  of  volume  and 
velocity  throughout  their  ranges,  etc.,  before  engineering  works,  such 
as  have  been  jiroposed  for  the  construction  of  the  canal,  can  be  decided 
upon;  and  adds  that,  even  with  such  data  most  carefully  ascertained, 
allowance  would  still  have  to  be  made  for  possibilities  occurring  at  long 
intervals.    This  information,  the  Board  says,  has  not  been  secured. 

The  importance  of  such  data  in  designing  and  executing  the  works 
proposed  is  fully  recognized  and  the  deficiency  referred  to  in  the  records 
of  the  company  is  admitted;  but  all  practical  engineers  are  aware  of 
the  fact  that,  even  in  countries  of  limited  and  comparatively  regular 
rainfall,  the  attainment  of  such  information  must  be  the  result  of  many 
years  of  persistent,  careful  investigations,  extending  over  a  large  area 
of  territory,  with  numerous  permanent  points  of  observation.  In  a 
country  like  Central  America,  where  the  range  of  rainfall  in  the  same 
locality  varies  as  much  as  100  inches  from  one  year  to  another,  and  200 
inches  or  more  in  the  same  year  between  points  less  than  100  miles 
apart,  theories  based  upon  observations  extending  over  twenty  years 
may  be  entirely  upset  the  twenty-first.  It  is  a  well-known  fact  that  the 
lowest  water  level  of  the  Mississippi  River  and  of  other  large  streams 
in  the  United  States  has  not  yet  been  established,  and  that  after  many 
years  of  constant  observations  and  the  expenditure  of  many  million 
dollars  in  their  improvement,  the  regime  of  the  streams  is  but  approxi- 
mately known.  It  is  also  well  known  that  the  works  undertaken  by 
the  Army  engineers  for  improvement  of  the  navigation  of  Columbia 
River,  at  Cascade  Falls,  were  designed,  and  construction  commenced 
on  them,  after  many  years  of  careful  observations  of  the  rainfall  and 
when  the  regime  of  the  river  was  supposed  to  have  been  satisfactorily 
established ;  yet  the  flood  of  1894  rose  several  feet  above  the  tops  of 
the  works,  which,  consequently,  will  have  to  be  raised,  at  considerable 
additional  cost,  to  bring  them  above  the  new  high- water  mark.  To 
defer  tlie  designing  of  the  Nicaragua  Canal  until  all  the  precise  hydraulic 
data  required  by  the  Board  is  accurately  recorded  and  the  regime  of 
the  lake  and  of  the  numerous  water  courses  affected  by  its  construction 
are  fully  determined  would  be  equivalent  to  i)utting  off  the  execution 
of  the  work  indefinitely. 

The  concessions  granted  by  the  Mcaraguan  Government  provided, 
under  i)enalty  of  forfeiture,  that  the  fiiml  surveys  for  the  location  of 
the  canal  should  be  completed  within  eighteen  months  from  the  date 
allowed  for  commencement,  and  that  the  final  plans  be  filed  and  the 
work  of  construction  commenced  within  two  and  a  half  years  from  the 
date  of  the  grant.  The  fragmentary  hydraulic  data  obtainable  in  that 
short  length  of  time,  while  the  project  was  in  process  of  development, 
would  have  been  of  no  more  value  in  connection  with  the  design  of 
dams,  weirs,  and  other  works,  than  will  be  the  information  proposed  to 
be  obtained  by  the  Board  in  the  eighteen  months,  additional  surveys 
reconmi  ended. 

In  the  absence  of  this  unattainable  exact  information  the  engineer 
familiar  with  the  topography  and  varied  meteorological  conditions  of 
the  country  must  assume  generally  coordinate  conditions  on  which  his 
works  are  based,  and  then  to  be  on  the  side  of  safety  make  liberal  allow- 
ances for  a  possible  maximum.  The  work  of  preparation  and  actual 
construction  will  extend  through  a  number  of  years,  during  which  val- 
uable data  will  be  secured,  to  which  the  works  must  be  adjusted  in 


NICARAGUA    CANAL. 


69 


Llieir  completion.  There  is  no  other  practical  metliod  possible  under 
the  circumstances,  and  with  the  proper  exercise  of  judgment  the  work 
is  reduced  to  a  mininumi.  This  method  is  also  much  simpler  than 
to  go  through  lengthy,  complicated  theoretical  calculations,  based  on 
assumed  watersheds,  rainfalls,  and  runoffs,  all  far  from  actual  con- 
ditions, and  leading  to  conclusions  worse  than  valueless,  because,  to 
those  unfamiliar  with  the  country,  they  .are  misleading.  In  the  case 
of  the  Kiver  San  Juan,  at  Ochoa,  it  was  assumed  that  the  maximum 
flood  might  reach  03,000  cubic  feet  per  second,  and  provisions  were 
made  for  a  discharge  of  more  than  double  that  amount  from  the  basin 
of  the  San  Juan,  with  a  maximum  rise  not  exceeding  4  feet.  The 
Board  has  returned  from  its  trip  to  Nicaragua  with  the  impression 
that  the  maximum  flood  may  reach  150,000  cubic  feet  per  second. 
This  estimate  is,  in  my  opinion,  a  rough  and  excessive  guess;  but 
assuming  it  to  be  nearer  the  correct  figure  than  the  company's  esti- 
mate, the  i)roblem  is  reduced  to  one  of  detail;  that  is,  to  increasing  the 
length  of  weir  crest  and  sluiceways  so  as  to  provide  for  the  estimated 
additional  discharge.  That  the  minimum  flow  of  the  Kiver  San  Juan 
may  be  less  than  11,390  cubic  feet  per  second,  as  shown  by  the  gauging 
of  May,  1872,  is  not  disputed,  as  the  lowest  level  of  the  river  has  not 
been  established,  but  the  extraordinary  low  water  of  that  year  is  a 
matter  of  record  recognized  by  boatmen  and  those  living  along  the 
stream,  but  that  the  flow  may  be  as  little  as  one-half  or  one-third  that 
amount  is  not  admitted,  and  the  rough  gauging  made  by  the  board 
near  the  lake  in  May,  1895,  can  not  be  accepted  as  of  sufficient  value  for 
comparison. 

The  maximum  fluctuations  of  the  lake  level,  as  near  as  can  be  deter- 
mined from  the  information  obtainable,  is  about  10  feet.  The  level  9G.6, 
given  by  the  Board  as  reported  by  an  engineer  in  Nicaragua,  is  inad- 
missible, as  such  low  lake  would  iDractically  cat  off  the  flow  of  the  San 
Juan  below  Toro  Eapids,  an  event  not  recorded  in  the  history  of  the 
country.  The  fluctuations  of  lake  level  and  discharge  will  be  controlled 
by  the  Ochoa  dam.  The  flow  of  the  river  will  be  more  uniform  by  rea- 
son of  enlarged  sectional  area  in.  the  created  storage  reservoirs  and 
lessened  fluctuations  of  lake  level;  and  with  an  intelligent  management 
of  the  sluices  and  weirs,  at  both  the  western  and  eastern  ends  of  the 
summit  level,  there  is  no  reason  why  the  lake  should  not  be  maintained 
■within  1^  feet  of  the  assumed  110-foot  level,  as  proposed  in  the  com- 
pany's pfans.  With  the  regimen  of  the  river  and  lake  thus  regulated, 
the  flow  will  be  more  uniform  and  far  more  in  excess  of  the  amount 
required  for  necessary  lockage  than  has  been  estimated. 

The  Board  questions  the  estimate  of  three-quarter  inch  per  mile 
slope  allowed  in  the  river  from  the  lake  to  Ochoa,  and,  without  assign- 
ing valid  reasons  or  presenting  any  figures  to  disprove  it,  i)resents  an 
estimated  slope  of  two-tenths  feet  for  this  entire  distance,  based  on  a 
discharge  of  10,000  feet  per  second.  There  is  no  data  at  hand  on 
which  to  base  computations  conducive  to  even  approximate  results,  as 
the  constantly  varying  section  of  the  river  and  conditions  of  the  banks 
and  the  contractions  and  expansions  of  the  flooded  valley  at  every 
point  will  result  in  variable  conditions  of  flow,  which  can  not  now  be 
ascertained.  But  it  is  of  direct  interest  to  observe,  in  this  connection, 
that  in  the  section  of  the  river  called  "Aguas  Muertas,"  between 
Machuca  Rapids  and  the  confluence  of  the  river  San  Carlos,  where  for 
a  distance  of  18  miles  the  depth  varies  from  40  to  80  feet,  the  slope  of  the 
river,  for  a  flow  of  11,000  cubic  feet,  is  nearly  1  inch  per  mile.  The  sec- 
tional area  of  the  river  above  Machuca  Eapids,  as  modified  by  the  dam, 


70  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

and  exclusive  of  expansions  of  tlie  valley  where  the  current  will  be 
nil,  will  not  vary  materially  from  the  dimensions  given  for  tbe  "Aguas 
Muertas"  section,  and  it  may  be  fairly  estimated  that  the  slope  will  be 
about  the  same.  Nearly  similar  conditions  of  slope  obtain  between  the 
lake  and  Toro  Ilapids.  The  estimated  slope  of  three-quarter  inch  to 
the  mile  assumed  for  the  plan  of  the  canal  is,  therefore,  insisted  upon 
as  approximately  correct  until  disproved  by  some  substantial  reason  or 
by  computations  not  yet  submitted  by  the  Board,  and  the  unsupported 
assertion  that  the  lake  level  of  110  feet  will  be  extended  to  Ochoa,  and 
that  the  dam  and  embankments  should  be  raised  4  feet  by  reason 
thereof  is,  in  my  opinion,  unwarranted  and  inadmissible,  and  the 
increased  cost  due  to  that  change  should  be  regarded  as  an  unreason- 
able addition  to  the  estimates. 

The  Board  attaches  considerable  importance  to  retaining  the  lake 
level  at  or  above  110,  and  believes  that  any  fall  from  that  level  will  be 
injurious  to  navigation  in  the  river  and  canal.  There  is  no  foundation 
for  the  statement.  The  canal  is  projected  to  be,  ultimately,  30  feet 
deep  throughout  from  ocean  to  ocean,  but  in  order  to  reduce  first  cost 
of  construction  the  river  section  and  the  sea-level  sections  of  the  canal 
have  been  estimated  with  a  depth  of  28  feet,  the  additional  2  feet  to 
be  excavated  after  the  canal  is  open  to  traffic.  It  is  claimed  that  the 
lake  level  can  be  maintained  within  a  range  of  3  feet,  or  within  IJ 
feet  of  110,  and  the  Board  does  not  seem  to  dispute  it.  Should  the  lake 
fall  18  inches  below  the  110-foot  level  the  excavated  channel  in  the  river 
will  yet  have  a  depth  of  26^  feet,  or  6  inches  more  than  the  Manchester 
and  Suez  canals,  and  the  sections  of  canal  in  excavation  a  depth  of  28^ 
feet,  or  deeper  than  any  ship  canal  in  the  world.  That  is  to  say,  the 
lake  may  fall  2  feet  below  the  assumed  summit  level,  110,  and  all  the 
sections  of  the  river  and  canal  in  excavation  will  yet  remain  deeper 
than  any  other  canal  now  in  successful  operation,  and  there  is  no 
apparent  reason  why  this  canal  should  be  made  deeper  than  experience 
has  conclusively  shown  to  be  suflficient  elsewhere. 

Owing  to  lack  of  time  and  the  pressing  need  of  carefully  surveying 
and  developing  vast  sections  of  the,  country  not  jireviously  examined 
and  entering  as  important  factors  into  the  problem  of  designing  and 
estimating  the  cost  of  the  canal,  the  company  was  not  able  to  make  a 
new  and  more  detailed  survey  of  the  river  San  Juan  before  operations 
were  suspended.  This  omission  has  not,  however,  the  importance 
attached  to  it  by  the  Board.  The  river  had  been  surveyed  by  a  party 
of  navy  officers,  specially  trained  in  hydrographic  work,  under  the 
immediate  charge  of  Lieut.  J.  W.  Miller,  acting  under  the  supervision 
of  Commander  E.  P.  Lull,  U.  S.  N.,  commanding  the  Government  sur- 
veying expedition  of  1872-1873.  The  company  had  the  free  use  of  the 
field  notes  and  original  plans  of  that  survey,  and  there  is  no  reason  to 
doubt  the  accuracy  of  the  survey  or  the  sufficiency  of  the  estimates 
based  on  the  same.  The  compass  survey  referred  to  by  the  Board  was 
set  aside,  not  because  it  was  valueless,  as  stated  in  the  report,  but  for 
the  reason  that  the  company  had  it  in  contemplation  to  supplement  the 
Government  survey  by  a  thorough  and  complete  survey  of  the  stream 
and  its  adjacent  valley  as  far  as  Ochoa,  with  numerous  cross  sections 
and  borings  from  the  lake  to  Castillo.  There  being  no  question,  how- 
ever, as  to  the  entire  practicability  of  that  portion  of  the  canal,  the 
engineering  force  was  kejit  employed  in  developing  other  less-known 
sections  of  the  country  and  in  rectifying  the  location  of  the  canal  and 
locks,  and  embankment  sites,  until  a  suspension  of  work  on  account  ol 
financial  difficulties  found  the  river  work  yet  undone. 


NICARAGUA   CANAL.  71 

Borings  in  the  bed  of  the  river,  where  excavations  ar6  needed,  would 
have  been  of  much  interest  and  value,  but  the  discrepancy  in  the  esti- 
mates due  to  the  omission  of  such  boring  may  be  safely  counted  on  the 
right  side,  as  excavations  at  points  where  rock  is  known  or  supposed 
to  exist  have  been  computed  and  estimated  for  as  all  rock.  The  esti- 
mated excavations  at  the  bends  of  the  river  are  only  approximate  and 
are  of  doubtful  necessity,  as  with  perhaps  one  exception  the  bends  are 
not  so  sharp  that,  in  the  opinion  of  experienced  navigators,  ships  can 
not  go  around  with  perfect  safety.  These  excavations,  in  any  case, 
will  be  in  alluvial  formation  on  the  convex  side  of  the  bend,  of  small 
depth,  and  anyone  fiimiliar  with  the  ground  can  see  at  once  that  no 
rock  will  be  encountered. 

I  will  now  discuss  the  changes  in  the  design  and  dimensions  of  the 
canal  recommended  by  the  Board  in  order  as  they  appear  in  the  report. 

1.  Greytown  Harbor. — The  Board  accepts  as  correct  the  principles  on 
which  the  plans  proposed  for  the  restoration  of  the  harbor  are  based, 
but  recommends  that  the  pier  and  harbor  entrance  be  shifted  about 
one  and  a  half  miles  to  the  eastward,  on  the  ground  that  as  located  on 
the  plans  of  the  company  it  is  too  near  the  angle  formed  by  the  west 
coast.  The  change  is  not  regarded  as  advisable  for  the  following 
important  reasons : 

First.  The  Government  of  Nicaragua  will  not  assent  to  it.  The 
canal  concession  provides  that  the  company  shall  build  one  first-class 
harbor  on  the  coast  of  Nicaragua  at  each  terminus  of  the  canal,  on  the 
Atlantic  and  Pacific  oceans.  The  first  location  for  the  harbor  entrance 
made  by  tbe  company  was  several  thousand  feet  to  the  eastward  of 
the  present  location,  but  the  Government  of  Nicaragua  insisted  on  the 
removal  of  the  proposed  breakwater  and  harbor  entrance  to  the  west- 
ward, on  the  ground  that  the  site  selected  was  on  disputed  territory 
between  that  Kepublic  and  Costa  Rica;  and  the  present  location  was 
the  result  of  a  compromise  on  that  point  between  the  company  and  the 
Government. 

Second.  The  five  and  four  fathom  curves  lie  five-eighths  of  a  mile  and 
one  mile  respectively  west  of  the  pier  head  as  proposed,  and  therefore 
ships  entering  or  leaving  the  harbor  will  have  considerable  more  leeway 
than  is  allowed  at  the  entrance  of  the  best  artificial  harbors  in  the 
world.  Ships  arriving  oft'  Greytown  generally  anchor  to  the  westward 
of  the  proposed  pier  extended,  showing  that  the  objection  raised  by  the 
Board  is  not  well  founded. 

Third.  The  suggested  change  would  increase  exposure  to  the  north- 
west, with  consequent  agitation  at  harbor  entrance. 

Fourth.  It  would  bring  the  pier  and  harbor  entrance  into  dangerous 
proximity  to  the  mouth  of  the  lower  branch  of  the  river,  with  imminent 
risk  of  being  undermined  and  destroyed  at  the  root,  or  of  being  con- 
verted into  an  artificial  island  by  the  scouring  of  the  coast  and  shifting 
of  the  river  into  a  new  channel  to  the  west  of  the  pier. 

Fifth.  It  would  greatly  decrease  the  area  of  deposit  for  the  drifting 
sand  arrested  by  the  pier,  and  consequently  involve  an  unnecessary 
increase  in  length  of  pier. 

Sixth.  It  would  involve  an  unnecessarily  enormous  increase  of  cost 
over  present  estimates. 

Seventh.  The  advance  noted  on  the  west  coast  line,  as  reported 
by  the  Board,  is  due  to  accumulations  of  the  uncontrolled  sands  drift- 
ing westward,  which  will  be  completely  arrested  by  the  pier,  and  no 
apprehension  need  be  felt  as  to  construction  and  permanency  of  harbor 
entrance  as  proijosed  in  the  company's  plans. 


72  NICARAGUA   CANAL. 

2.  Greytoim*narhor  to  Lock  No.  1. — The  cliang:e  of  canal  location 
recommended  between  Greytown  and  Lock  No.  1  is  not  advisable,  for 
the  reason  that  it  wonld  require  expensive  and  dangerous  diversions  of 
the  Kiver  San  Juanillo,  and  interference  with  the  natural  drainage  of 
the  country,  without  thereby  gaining  any  material  advantage  over  the 
I)resent  location.  Such  a  line  was  located  by  the  company  and  dis- 
carded in  favor  of  the  one  through  Benards  Lagoon,  which  is  more 
economical  in  construction,  and  leaves  the  San  Juanillo  undisturbed. 
Had  the  Board  visited  that  section  of  the  canal  location  it  would  have 
obtained  some  idea  of  the  topography,  and  have  seen  that  Benards 
Lagoon  is  a  lagoon  only  in  name;  that  it  is  similar  in  character  to  the 
various  swami)s  extending  several  miles  back  of  Greytown,  and  that  it 
oflers  no  more  difliculty  in  being  cut  into  with  the  canal  prism  than 
those  that  have  already  been  dredged  through  by  the  company.  In  the 
section  of  canal  excavated,  the  spoil  banks  have  kept  the  swamp  waters 
from  running  into  the  excavation,  while  percolation  through  the  sur- 
rounding sandy  soil  has  had  the  effect  of  draining  the  swamps  in  the 
dry  season,  the  water  of  the  canal  being  maintained  at  sea  level.  The 
apprehension  stated  in  the  report  as  the  reason  for  the  proposed  change 
of  location — that  the  material  to  be  excavated  through  the  lagoon  may 
be  mud  as  soft  as  that  met  with  in  building  the  pile  bridge  at  the  con- 
fluence of  the  San  Juanillo  and  the  outlet  of  the  lagoon,  or  rather  the 
Deseado — has  no  foundation  in  fact.  That  mud  pocket  is  formed  by  the 
scour  of  the  inflow  and  outflow  of  the  waters  to  and  from  the  San  Juan- 
illo and  the  low  land  to  the  westward  and  the  lower  Deseado  Yalley, 
running  through  the  narrow  gorge  formed  by  the  steep  clay  banks 
and  deepening  the  channel  of  the  outlet,  a  light  sedimentary  deposit 
taking  the  place  of  the  harder  material  removed. 

The  same  conditions  are  observed  at  the  Danta  and  Nicholson  cross- 
ing in  the  valley  of  the  San  Francisco,  and  at  all  other  places  where 
the  waters  of  a  river  run  through  a  narrow  clay  gorge  to  and  from  a 
large  area  of  low  land.  The  ])roposed  change  in  the  bottom  width  of 
the  canal  from  120  feet  to  100  feet  is  not  in  the  interest  either  of  econ- 
omy or  of  a  better  canal.  The  first  proposition  is  jjroved  by  the  estimate 
of  the  Board  and  the  second  by  the  experience  gained  in  operating  the 
Manchester  Canal,  which  is,  as  the  proposed  Nicaragua  Canal,  120  feet 
wide  at  bottom.  The  assertion  of  the  Board  that  such  a  width  is  not 
sufficient  to  allow  the  safe  passage  of  ships  traveling  in  opposite  direc- 
tions is  disproved  by  a  late  report  of  the  officials  of  the  Manchester 
Canal  to  the  effect  that  ships  traveling  at  the  rate  of  6  miles  an  hour 
pass  one  another  at  all  points  without  difficulty.  The  turnouts  pro- 
posed by  the  Board  have  proved  a  source  of  annoyance  and  delay  to 
navigation  in  the  Suez  Canal,  by  reason  of  frequent  grounding  of  ves- 
sels in  taking  and  leaving  them,  and  they  should  be  avoided.  It  should 
be  obsei^ed  that  with  a  bottom  width  of  120  feet  and  slopes  of  3  to  1, 
as  proposed  in  the  plans,  ships  drawing  20  feet,  which  may  be  accepted 
as  the  average  draft  of  vessels  using  the  canal,  will  have  a  clear- 
ance of  180  feet  between  banks,  and  with  a  draft  of  25  feet,  which 
may  be  taken  as  the  maximum,  the  clearance  will  be  150  feet,  which  is 
much  more  than  the  navigable  width  at  those  depths  in  the  Manchester 
Canal,  where  the  slopes  are  much  steeper. 

3.  Lock  No.  1  to  east  divide. — The  Board  finds  no  special  mechanical 
or  other  engineering  difficulties  in  the  design  and  construction  of  locks 
of  the  lifts  proposed  in  the  comjjany's  i:>lans,  but  thinks  it  would  be 
preferable  to  have  four  locks  of  uniform  lift  instead  of  three  as  pro- 
posed.   The  change  would  materially  increase  the  original  cost  and  the 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  73 

operating  expenses  withont  gaining  any  advantage  to  navigation. 
Locks  of  31,  35,  and  40  feet  lift,  as  proposed,  conform  much  better  to 
tbe  topography  of  the  country,  will  be  less  expensive  iu  original  cost  and 
maintenance,  and  offer  less  obstruction  to  navigation,  and  therefore 
the  proposed  change  is  not  desirable.  As  to  the  recommendation  that 
the  locks  be  built  80  feet  wide  in  the  chamber,  there  is  no  objection 
to  the  proposition  beyond  the  increased  cost.  The  width  estimated  for 
by  the  company  (70  feet)  is,  however,  quite  sufficient  for  the  unimpeded 
passage  of  all  vessels  likely  to  pass  through  the  canal,  and  no  water- 
way built  as  a  commercial  undertaking  can  afford  to  be  overloaded  with 
extra  cost  for  the  puri^ose  of  making  provisions  for  the  passage  of  a 
few  ships  aHoat  of  unusual  dimensions  which  may  never  have  occasion 
to  use  the  canal. 

Uast  divide — No  definite  changes  have  been  proposed  in  the  section 
adopted  for  the  "eastern  divide  cut,"  but  it  is  pointed  out  that  more 
borings  will  be  needed  to  determine  with  i^recision  the  exact  character 
and  amount  of  rock  to  be  removed.  The  cut  is  short  of  3  miles  long, 
and  there  were  38  borings  taken  in  that  distance.  Of  that  number,  22 
borings  were  made  with  the  auger  through  the  overlying  clay  to  the 
rock,  and  16  were  made  with  the  diamond  drill  in  the  rock,  penetrating 
to  the  bottom  level  of  the  canal.  While  these  borings  sliowed  some 
variation  in  the  consistence  of  the  rock,  there  is  no  indication,  either  in 
the  cores  brought  up  or  in  the  large  masses  of  rock  in  view  at  the  Falls 
and  in  the  bed  of  the  Deseado,  of  strati  iication,  clay  seams,  or  disinte- 
grated material,  suggesting  the  probability,  or  even  possibility,  of  the 
sliding  of  the  mass  from  the  sides  of  the  excavation.  It  is  claimed  that 
with  the  borings  taken,  averaging  one  at  every  400  feet  on  the  axis  of 
the  canal,  and  with  cross  sections  of  the  ground  at  every  100  feet,  the 
computed  amount  of  excavation  is  as  close  an  approximation  to  the 
actual  quantity  to  be  removed  as  is  reasonable  to  exi)ect  in  an  estimate 
of  this  kind,  and  more  so  than  is  generally  found  in  original  estimates 
of  works  of  this  magnitude.  Borings  on  lines  parallel  to  the  axis  of 
the  canal  would  be  of  interest  and  of  value,  especially  if  the  work  is 
to  be  done  by  contract ;  but  for  the  purpose  of  an  estimate,  with  a  large 
percentage  added  for  contingencies,  they  are  not  regarded  as  essential. 

The  iSan  Francisco  emhankments. — The  Board  finds  no  insurmountable 
difficulties  in  the  construction  of  the  embankments  in  the  valley  of  the 
San  Francisco.  Some  of  them  are  important  engineering  works  requir- 
ing care  and  skill  in  their  construction,  as  has  always  been  admitted, 
birt  they  are  accepted  as  practicable;  not,  however,  without  calling 
attention  in  three  places  in  the  report  to  the  facility  with  which  such  a 
line  of  embankments  could  be  destroyed  through  malice  or  for  military 
purposes,  thus  blocking  the  canal  or  stopping  its  operation  for  a  consid- 
erable length  of  time.  Such  a  remark  might  have  been  more  strikingly 
emphasized  by  applying  it  to  the  locks  and  other  works  connected  with 
the  canal,  and  by  adding  that  there  is  no  engineering  work  in  existence 
to-day  which  could  not  be  wrecked  by  a  charge  of  dynamite. 

Railroad  and  telegraph  lines. — The  company  has  provided  for  a  sin- 
gle-track railroad  between  Greytown  and  Ochoa,  and  has  estimated  it 
at  a  price  per  mile  sufficiently  high  to  include  the  necessary  sidings, 
water  tanks,  and  stations,  such  as  are  required  during  construction, 
but  exclusive  of  such  switches  and  other  temporary  tracks  as  may  be 
needed  in  the  viciuity  of  the  works,  the  cost  of  which  being  chargeable 
to  are  included  in  the  estimate  of  the  various  works  to  which  they  per- 
tain. The  Board  is  of  the  opinion  that  a  double-track  road  will  be 
needed  for  the  business  west  of  the  east  end  of  the  divide  cut,  and 


74  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

lias  increased  the  estimate  accordingly.  Considering  that  this  road  is 
to  be  built  strictly  for  construction  purposes,  and  for  no  other  business, 
it  is  believed  that  even  if  the  traffic  westward  should  be  as  large  as  the 
Board  assumes,  a  well  built  and  intelligently  managed  single-track 
road  will  be  quite  sufficient  for  the  business.  The  remarkable  state  of 
preservation  shown  (after  four  years  of  neglect)  by  the  11^  miles  of 
road  built  by  the  company  under  adverse  circumstances,  as  regards  the 
physical  conditions  and  the  inadequate  plant  used  in  construction,  is 
sufficient  proof  that  track  maintenance  in  that  country  will  offer  no 
greater  difficulties  than  in  any  other  country,  nor  as  great. 

The  Oclioa  Bam  and  San  Carlos  Bidgc. — Tlie  report  devotes  consider- 
able space  to  the  discussion  of  the  proposed  Ochoa  Dam.  It  calls  atten- 
tion to  the  lack  of  hydraulic  data  and  insuihcient  borings  taken  by  the 
company  at  the  sight  of  the  dam.  It  cites  and  describes  several  rock- 
fill  or  dry-rubble  dams,  built  on  different  sections,  different  plans,  for 
different  purposes,  and  under  conditions  entirely  dissimilar  to  those 
existing  at  Ochoa,  which  dams  have  been  demolished  when  overtopped 
by  the  impounded  waters.  It  regards  as  hazardous  to  undertake  the 
building  of  such  dam  without  precedent  in  engineering,  with  the  meager 
information  collected  by  the  company,  and  closes  the  discussion  with 
the  conclusion  that  if  a  dam  must  be  built  at  Ochoa,  and  the  physical 
conditions  are  such  that  a  masonry  dam  is  not  practicable  there,  the 
Board  is  of  the  opinion  that  a  rock-fill  dam,  such  as  has  been  proposed, 
can  be  safely  built,  with  certain  modifications  of  the  original  plan  and 
method  of  construction  suggested  in  the  report.  The  matter  of  hydraulic 
data  lias  already  been  discussed  in  this  paper  and  repetition  here  is 
unnecessary.  As  to  the  borings,  it  will  be  sufficient  to  say  that  enough 
of  them  were  made  to  establish  the  fact  that  there  is  no  solid  rock 
ledge  within  practical  distance  available  for  foundations  at  the  site 
of  the  dam.  That  the  abutting  hills  are  comi^osed  of  compact,  hard, 
red  clay,  with  occasional  bowlders,  and  the  bottom  of  the  river  of  sand 
to  considerable  depth.  Whether  the  rock  lies  100  feet  or  200  feet  below 
the  river  bottom  is  of  little  moment  as  long  as  it  is  too  deep  to  admit  of 
being  used  for  the  support  of  the  structure. 

To  continue  boring  after  these  facts  had  been  established  would  have 
been  a  waste  of  time  and  money,  and  operations  were  therefore  sus- 
pended after  seventeen  borings  had  been  made.  It  was  evident  from 
the  borings  that  a  masonry  dam  of  the  height  required  was  not  practi- 
cable at  that  point  under  existing  conditions,  and  either  a  more  suitable 
site  had  to  be  found  or  a  method  of  construction  adopted  suitable  to 
the  conditions  found.  Careful  investigations  showed  that  there  is  no 
practicable  site  for  a  dam  between  Machuca  and  Ochoa,  due  principally 
to  the  great  depth  of  water  in  the  "Aguas  Muertas"  section  of  the  river, 
and  that  there  is  but  one  available  site  below,  about  5  miles  from  Ochoa, 
which  presents  no  advantages  over  the  upper  site,  the  physical  condi- 
tions being  practically  identical.  The  site  at  Ochoa  was,  therefore, 
adhered  to,  and  a  rock-fill  dam  was  adopted  as  the  only  safe  and  eco- 
nomical solution  of  the  problem.  The  dams  described  by  the  board  can 
not  be  accepted  as  parellel  cases,  and  they  throw  little  or  no  light  on  the 
problems  in  question.  They  were  built  of  small  stones,  packed  by  hand, 
with  steep  front  and  back  slopes,  and  on  rock  foundations.  They  were 
built  for  the  storage  of  water,  were  not  intended  to  be  overto])ped,  and 
as  might  have  been  expected  were,  with  one  exce]>tion,  carried  away  as 
soon  as  a  large  volume  of  water  commenced  to  flow  over  their  crests. 
It  is  quite  remarkable  that  one  of  the  dams  described  (the  Bowman 
dam)  successfully  resisted  the  fiow  of  a  considerable  volume  of  water 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  75 

over  its  to]),  a  circumstance  duo,  evidently  as  much  as  to  any  other  con- 
dition, to  the  hirger  size  of  the  stone  used  in  its  construction.  In  search- 
ing for  precedents  of  rock-fill  or  dry-rubble  dams  built  on  sandy  bottom 
to  withstand  the  flow  of  large  volumes  of  water  over  their  tops,  we  will 
have  to  look  at  the  irrigation  works  of  India,  where  such  methods  of 
construction  have  been  in  practice  for  many  years. 

Rough  stone  weirs  exist  at  the  heads  of  most  of  the  irrigation  chan- 
nels in  Misan,  which  raise  the  level  of  the  water  to  the  required  height, 
the  lowest  being  7  feet  and  the  highest  25  feet. 

The  Mudden  weir  is  22  feet  high  and  168  feet  at  base.  As  originally 
constructed  it  consisted  of  a  mass  of  rubble,  paved  with  larger  stones, 
the  front  face  with  stones  1^  by  1  foot,  while  the  apron  was  i)aved  with 
rough  stone  blocks  of  about  2  cubic  yards  each.  That  this  weir  should 
have  stood,  with  but  occasional  repairs,  for  a  great  number  of  years  is 
quite  remarkable,  on  account  of  the  small  stones  comprising  its  mass. 
It  was  recently  reconstructed,  and  the  original  form  was  retained  by 
the  engineer,  but  a  brick  and-mortar  wall  was  introduced  against  the 
upper  face  to  prevent  the  displacement  of  the  small  stones. 

The  weir  at  the  head  of  the  AgTa  and  Soane  canals  represents  a  quite 
usual  type  of  rough  weirs  built  in  sandy  bottom.  This  weir  is  witliout 
solid  foundations  of  any  kind,  resting  directly  on  the  sandy  bed  of  the 
river.  Its  crest  is  10  feet  above  the  river  bed  and  its  length  2,575  feet. 
The  flood  discharge  is  as  high  as  1,300,000  cubic  feet  per  second,  the 
depth  of  water  over  the  crest  in  flood  discharge  being  about  10  feet. 

The  Soane  weir  is  similar  to  the  Agra  weir  in  generiil  construction ; 
it  rests  on  wells  sunk  from  6  to  8  feet  in  the  sandy  bed  of  the  river, 
three  narrow  masonry  walls  being  used  to  keep  the  small  stone  in 
l)lace.  Between  the  walls  is  a  simple  stone  packing.  The  upstream 
slope  is  1  on  3,  and  the  downstream  slope  is  1  on  12.  The  weir  is  12,470 
feet  long,  and  the  height,  including  depth  of  wells,  19.3  feet.  Flood 
discharge,  750,000  cubic  feet  per  second. 

The  weir  at  Begewada,  in  the  Kistna  Deltaic  works,  is  3,198  feet  long 
and  15J  feet  high  above  top  of  foundations,  which  consist  of  a  double 
row  of  walls  sunk  in  the  sandy  river  bed.  The  flood  discharge  is 
736,000  feet  per  second,  and  at  the  greatest  flood  the  water  rose  19^ 
feet  above  crest  of  weir.  It  will  be  apparent  that  such  works  could 
not  be  built  in  one  dry  season,  and  the  floods  must  have  passed  over 
them  during  construction. 

Many  similar  weirs  could  be  cited  of  about  similar  dimensions  and 
built  on  the  same  conditions  and  by  similar  methods  as  those  described 
above. 

Not  any  of  these  weirs  approach  in  height  the  one  proposed  at  Ochoa, 
but  the  precedent  of  rock-fill  dams  or  weirs,  built  on  sandy  river  beds 
successfully  withstanding  the  undermining  effects  of  a  considerable 
hydraulic  head  and  the  flow  over  their  crests  of  enormous  volumes  of 
water  is  fully  established ;  all  that  is  needed  in  the  case  of  Ochoa  being 
to  proportion  the  structure  to  the  height  required.  The  cross  walls 
used  in  the  construction  of  the  weirs  in  India  to  prevent  the  rolling  of 
small  stones  can  safely  be  dispensed  with  in  this  case  by  using  large 
blocks  weighing  from  five  to  ten  tons  in  the  body  of  the  whole  mound, 
as  has  been  proposed.  That  these  stone  blocks  will  gradually  sink  in 
the  river-sand  bed,  as  the  work  progresses,  by  the  scouring  action  of 
the  increasing  head  is  fully  admitted;  but  if  the  practical  results 
obtained  in  India,  especially  at  the  Agra  weir,  and  in  many  brush  and 
timber  dams  built  in  sandy  rivers  in  the  United  States,  can  be  taken 
as  a  criterionj  the  mound  at  Ochoa  will  not  sink  more  than  15  feet  in 


7G  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

tlic  river  bed  under  a  head  of  60  feet,  the  base  of  the  rock  inonnd  beinjjj 
not  less  than  900  feet  in  length.  The  Agra  weir  rests  on  the  bed  of  the 
river  without  foundation  of  any  kind,  practically  floating  on  sand,  the 
friction  under  its  long  base  being  solely  depended  upon  to  overcome 
the  hydraulic  head.  That  the  comparatively  small  flow  of  the  San  Juan 
will  have  but  little  or  no  effect  on  the  mound  during  construction  is  also 
proved  by  the  experience  gained  in  India,  where  such  enormous  floods 
as  cited  are  discliarged  over  rock-fill  weirs.  In  ftxct,  during  the  first 
stage  of  the  work  the  floods  will  practically  drown  the  mound,  showing 
scarcely  a  ripifle  in  the  surface.  As  the  work  advances  the  fall  will  be 
more  clearly  defined,  but  by  that  time  the  whole  base  of  the  dam  should 
have  been  laid  in  place,  and  the  long  apron  will  serve  to  destroy  the 
force  of  the  fall.  That  the  dam  will  become  tight  by  the  simple  action 
of  the  sedimentary  deposit  of  the  river  is  beyond  dispute,  but  the  small 
material  proposed  to  be  deposited  on  the  upstream  face  will  precipitate 
that  result. 

The  Board  admits  the  practicability  of  the  dam,  with  some  modifica- 
tions in  the  method  of  construction.  The  first  consists  in  strengthening 
the  abutments  by  means  of  concrete  piers  sunk  with  the  aid  of  caissons, 
and  the  second,  and  most  important  change  jiroposed  is  to  build  a  series 
of  sluices  in  the  surrounding  ridge  of  the  San  Carlos  basin,  by  which  the 
whole  volume  of  the  river  in  flood  can  be  diverted  from  its  natural  chan- 
nel when  the  mound  has  attained  a  height  of  about  50  feet  above  low- 
water  level,  the  rest  of  the  dam  to  be  then  built  to  completion  practi- 
cally free  from  water. 

The  first  proposition  involves  a  mere  matter  of  detail,  and  while  I 
regard  it  as  practically  of  no  advantage,  and  therefore  extravagantly 
and  unnecessarily  expensive,  it  need  not  be  discussed  at  length. 

The  second  proposition  is,  in  my  opinion,  of  the  greater  importance. 
It  would  be  an  element  of  weakness  in  method,  and  if  carried  out  it  is 
most  likely  to  result  in  at  least  temporary  failure.  I  claim  that  the 
assistance  of  the  river  is  essentially  necessary  during  construction  by 
the  method  proposed,  in  order  to  obtain  a  permanent  structure.  The 
hydraulic  head  should  be  constantly  acting  on  the  base  to  attain  and 
to  keep  up  the  maximum  scour  and  the  settlement  of  the  whole  mass, 
and  the  flow  will  be  a  powerful  and  valuable  agent  in  distributing  the 
material  over  the  work  in  progress,  until  every  block  and  every  pebble 
has  found  a  final  resting  i^lace.  But  if  a  portion,  and  the  most  impor- 
tant part,  of  the  dam  is  built  free  from  water,  it  is  more  than  probable 
that  when  the  whole  pressure  is  brought  to  bear  upon  the  structure  a 
sudden  settlement  of  the  mass  will  take  place;  the  dam  may  be  breached 
thereby,  and  the  resulting  injury  to  the  work  may  be  very  serious,  and 
to  say  the  least,  expensive  to  repair. 

If  the  method  of  construction  recommended  by  the  company's  plan  is 
adhered  to,  there  will  be  no  danger  in  allowing  a  portion  of  the  river 
flow  to  discharge  over  the  dam.  If  all  the  parts  composing  the  mound 
have  in  their  turn  successfully  stood  a  proportional  share  of  the  full 
force  of  the  stream  acting  on  the  whole  mass,  there  is  no  good  reason 
to  fear  that  a  much  reduced  flow  will  endanger  stability.  However, 
that  is  a  matter  of  detail,  and  the  fact  that  by  raising  the  dam  crest  above 
the  highest  probable  water  level  in  the  river  the  stability  of  the  dam 
is  placed  beyoiul  all  possible  contingencies  of  accident  need  not  be  dis- 
puted. But  I  firmly  assert  that  the  method  I  have  outlined  for  build- 
ing the  dam  is  the  safest,  as  well  as  the  most  economical,  and  that  the 
modifications  proposed  by  tlie  Board  are,  first,  unnecessarily  costly,  the 
auxiliary  sluices  alone  being  estimated  at  lljSOOjOOO,  and  liext  danger- 


NICARAGUA   CANAL.  77 

ous  as  regards  stability  of  the  structure.  With  the  sluces  and  weirs 
proposed  by  the  coinpauy,  the  summit  level  can  be  regulated  and  the 
surplus  waters  safely  discharged,  and  if  later  investigations  should 
show  that  the  probable  maximum  floods  may  be  greater  than  have  been 
estimated,  additional  weir  crest  can  be  provided  in  due  time  during 
construction. 

Tlie  San  Juan  River. — The  Board  believes  that  the  channels  proix)sed 
by  the  company's  plans  in  the  river  San  Juan  and  at  the  east  side  of 
the  lake,  where  excavations  are  needed  to  obtain  the  required  depth  for 
navigation,  viz,  125  feet  wide  at  the  bottom  in  the  river  section  and  150 
feet  wide  in  the  lake,  is  altogether  too  small,  and  recommends  bottom 
widths  of  not  less  than  250  feet  in  the  river  and  300  feet  in  the  lake. 
Such  widths  of  channel  are,  in  my  opinion,  unnecessary,  and  at  the 
outset  undesirable  on  account  of  the  enormous  increase  of  cost  involved. 
There  is  no  ship  canal  in  the  world  of  such  channel  width,  with  the 
exception  of  the  canals  between  the  American  Great  Lakes,  if  they  can 
be  called  ship  canals,  where  the  conditions  of  traffic  differ  entirely  from 
those  pertaining  to  canals  built  for  the  accommodation  of  ocean  traflBc. 

During  the  season  of  1895,  of  two  hundred  and  thirty-one  days,  17,956 
vessels  passed  through  the  St.  Marys  Falls  Canal,  of  which  12,495  were 
steamers,  4,790  sails,  and  671  unregistered  craft,  or  an  average  of  78 
vessels  per  day,  with  an  average  tonnage  of  935,  carrying  an  aggregate 
of  15,002,580  registered  tonnage,  showing  an  increase  of  7,399  vessels 
and  6,508,145  tons  since  1890.  With  an  estimated  traffic  of  10,000,000 
tons,  extended  over  the  entire  year,  and  an  average  tonnage  of  2,500 
tons,  the  number  of  vessels  passing  through  the  Nicaragua  Canal  per 
day  will  be  11,  as  compared  to  78  going  through  the  St.  Marys  Falls 
Canal,  and  for  a  traffic  of  6,000,000  tons  the  number  of  ships  passing 
through  Nicaragua  will  average  less  than  7  per  day.  The  conditions 
of  traffic  are  also  entirely  dissimilar.  In  the  lake  traffic  the  distances 
are  comparatively  short  and  the  competition  sharp,  and  every  hour  saved 
and  each  mile  made  represents  an  appreciable  item  in  the  profit  and 
loss  account  for  the  trip,  while  ships  passing  through  the  Nicaragua 
Canal  will  save  hundreds  of  thousands  of  miles,  and  days  instead  of 
hours,  in  the  length  of  the  voyages,  and  the  loss  of  a  few  hours  by  deten- 
tion would  play  no  part  in  the  expense  of  the  voyage.  The  matter  of 
speed  is,  therefore,  of  vast  importance  in  lake  navigation,  but  of  far  less 
consequence  in  an  interoceanic  shij)  canal.  A  wide  channel,  in  which 
steam  and  sailing  vessels  and  large  tows  can  travel  at  full  speed,  and 
pass  one  another  at  all  points  without  hindrance,  is  necessary  in  the 
former  case,  while  at  Nicaragua,  with  a  limited  number  of  ships  travel- 
ing at  comparatively  low  speed,  a  much  more  contracted  channel  will 
be  sufficient  to  meet  requirements,  as  has  been  proved  by  experience  in 
other  shiij  canals. 

Pilots  and  navigators  are  of  the  opinion  that  there  will  be  no  diffi- 
culty for  ships  passing  each  other  in  the  125-foot  channel  proposed  in 
the  excavated  section  of  the  river.  With  the  channel  properly  marked, 
vessels  traveling  in  opposite  directions  can  pass  each  other  at  many 
points,  and  if  necessary  the  traffic  can  be  regulated  so  that  they  will 
meet  only  on  the  lake  or  in  the  broad  and  deep  expanses  of  the  river. 
When  the  traffic  through  the  canal  increases  to  the  extent  that  such 
arrangement  can  not  be  conveniently  carried  out  without  undue  delay, 
turn-outs  can  be  excavated  at  proper  places  or  the  channel  widened  in 
its  entire  length.  In  the  meantime  it  is  not  a  sound  business  proposi- 
tion, and  surely  not  good  engineering,  to  load  the  enterprise  at  the  out- 
set with  such  enormous  unnecessary  expense. 


78  NICARAGUA   CANAL. 

LaliC  Nicaragua. — What  bas  been  said  of  tbe  river  channel  can  be 
applied  with  greater  force  to  the  lake  channel;  150  feet  wide  at  bottom, 
with  slopes  of  3  to  1,  as  estimated  in  the  company's  i)Ians,  or  slopes  of  5 
to  1,  as  is  quite  possible,  may  be  needed  on  account  of  the  soft  nature 
of  the  bottom.  With  such  slopes,  vessels  drawing  20  feet  will  have  a 
clearance  of  from  210  to  250  feet  between  the  banks,  and  for  a  draft  of 
25  feet  the  clearance  would  be  from  180  to  200  feet. 

I  am  of  the  opinion,  therefore,  that  the  width  of  channel  proposed  by 
the  company's  plans  is  quite  sufficient,  and  that  the  changes,  involv- 
ing enormously  increased  cost  of  construction,  recommended  by  the 
board,  are  unnecessary. 

As  to  the  depth  of  the  channels,  the  company  has  estimated  28  feet 
in  the  river  and  30  feet  in  the  lake.  It  has  been  contemplated  that 
when  the  plans  are  finally  carried  out  the  depth  will  be  30  feet  through- 
out, but  in  order  to  open  the  canal  to  traffic  with  no  more  expense  than 
is  necessary  to  secure  free  and  safe  navigation  the  channels  in  the  river 
and  in  the  sea-level  sections  of  the  canal  have  been  estimated  at  28 
feet,  which  is  the  maximum  depth  of  the  deepest  ship  canal  in  the 
world.  Attention  is  called  in  this  connection  to  an  error  recently  dis- 
covered in  the  quantities  of  excavation  in  the  upper  section  of  the  river 
estimated  for  by  the  company.  These  quantities  were  transferred  from 
the  Government  rex>ort  of  1885  (the  Government  surveys  of  the  river 
having  been  used  by  the  comi)any),  and  it  now  appears  that  through 
clerical  error,  mistaken  computations,  or  misprint  in  the  preparation  of 
that  report  the  quantities  estimated  fall  short  of  the  actual  amount  of 
excavation  needed,  and  it  is  conceded  that  the  estimates  must  be  cor- 
rected accordingly.  The  cominitations  for  excavations  in  the  lake,  as 
on  other  parts  of  the  canal,  were  made  from  data  of  recent  careful  sur- 
veys made  by  the  company  and  the  amounts  inserted  in  the  estimates 
are  believed  to  be  absolutely  correct.  The  discrepancy  of  417,000  cubic 
yards  of  dredging  in  the  lake  between  the  amounts  estimated  by  the 
company  and  as  computed  by  the  Board  must  be  due  either  to  error  in 
calculation  by  the  Board  or  to  distortion  of  the  paper  after  much  hand- 
ling and  exposure  of  the  plans,  the  figures  of  the  Board  being  based 
on  scale  measurements  along  14  miles  of  excavation.  The  error  in  the 
river  section  was  detected  by  the  Board  while  checking  the  quantities 
in  the  company's  estimates. 

The  change  suggested  in  the  position  of  the  pier  proposed  at  the 
entrance  of  the  canal  on  the  west  coast  of  the  lake  is  not  regarded  as 
desirable.  The  proposed  piers  are  intended  to  assist  ships  in  taking 
the  canal,  and  not  to  break  the  lake  waves,  which  are  never  sufficiently 
high  to  make  the  least  impression  on  vessels  of  the  size  passing  through 
the  canal.  The  correctness  of  this  statement  is  proved  by  the  safety 
with  which  small  boats  of  the  rudest  construction  jdy  regularly  between 
points  on  both  coasts  of  the  lake,  and  also  by  the  remarkably  good 
state  of  preservation  of  roughly  built  crib  i^iers  of  many  years'  stand- 
ing at  San  Jorge  and  Granada,  on  the  most  exposed  shore  of  the  lake. 

Lale  Nicaragua  to  the  Pacific. — The  company  has  carefully  located 
two  routes  for  the  section  of  the  canal  between  the  lake  and  the  Pacific. 
The  route  estimated  for  involves  the  construction  of  a  dam  about  70 
feet  high  at  La  Flor.  A  deep  basin  about  5  miles  long,  created  by  this 
dam  in  the  valley  of  Tola,  and  three  locks  to  overcome  the  lake  level, 
extended  through  the  canal  to  the  dam.  The  alternate  route  would  be 
wholly  in  excavation  from  the  lake  to  Brito,  would  require  four  locks 
of  reduced  lift,  and,  while  presenting  no  engineering  difficulties,  its 
cost  would  be  considerably  more  than  the  basin  plan,  by  reason  of 
increased  excavation  and  one  additional  lock. 


NICARAGUA   CANAL.  79 

Deep  borings  with  the  diamond  drill,  taken  at  the  site  of  the  dam, 
show  that  the  uniform  rock  ledge  lies  at  great  depth  below  the  surface 
of  the  valley,  and  that  the  construction  of  the  high  dam  originally  pro- 
posed would  involve  more  serious  difficulties  than  had  been  anticipated. 
The  basin  plan  is,  however,  so  attractive  and  presents  so  many  impor- 
tant advantages  to  navigation,  both  as  a  passing  place  and  as  an  inner, 
spacious  fresh-water  harbor,  less  than  4  miles  from  the  Pacific,  that 
the  company  has  been  reluctant  to  abandon  it  in  favor  of  the  all-surface 
route  before  a  more  detailed  examination  of  the  site  has  been  made, 
and  it  is  yet  confidently  expected  that  in  case  a  high  dam  proves  to  be 
impracticable,  one  of  considerably  less  height  may  be  safely  constructed 
and  the  basin  plan,  with  some  modifications,  retained.  Pending  final 
decision  in  this  matter,  a  temporary  earth  dam,  with  concrete  core,  has 
been  provided  for  in  the  company's  estimate  for  the  basin-plan  route. 

The  Board  regards  the  result  of  the  borings  as  conclusive  against  the 
high  dam,  and  without  giving  any  consideration  to  the  modified  plan 
with  a  low-level  basin  it  recommends  the  low-level  canal  as  the  safest. 
A  remarkable  change  in  location  is  here  proposed  between  the  end  of 
the  divide  cut  and  Brito,  a  distance  of  about  8  miles.  That  portion  of 
the  route  located  by  the  company,  after  the  most  careful  detailed  sur- 
veys and  study  of  the  country  traversed,  with  due  regard  to  previous 
examinations  made  by  the  United  States  surveying  expedition,  is  set 
aside,  and  a  paper  location  on  the  south  side  of  the  Eio  Grande  is 
suggested  and  estimated  upon  in  lieu  thereof.  The  claim  that  the  pro- 
posed change  in  location  would  save  complications  in  disposing  of  the 
insignificant  water  course  Tola  has  no  force  whatever,  as  that  creek  can 
be  taken  into  the  canal  or  discharged  under  it  into  the  Eio  Grande  at 
small  expense  and  without  inconvenience  to  navigation  or  risk  of  injury 
to  the  work.  The  transfer  of  the  canal  from  the  north  to  the  south 
side  of  the  Rio  Grande  would  involve  considerable  increased  cost  in 
construction  and  very  serious  complications  in  the  diversion  of  the 
stream  by  a  long,  expensive  artificial  channel,  nearly  as  large  as  the 
canal  itself,  into  Brito  Harbor  between  the  canal  and  the  high  land  to 
the  west.  It  would  also  prevent  the  contemplated  change  in  location 
of  the  lower  locks  toward  the  hills,  when  more  favorable  foundations 
can  be  found  for  it,  and  the  diversion  of  the  Rio  Grande  directly  into 
the  sea,  should  such  a  plan  be  found  advisable.  In  fact,  to  engineers 
familiar  with  the  project,  it  is  difficult  to  find  one  plausible  reason  to 
justify  the  extraordinary  change  in  location  proposed  for  this  section  of 
the  route. 

Brito  Harbor. — In  the  location  and  design  of  the  harbor  of  Brito 
important  changes  are  also  i^roposed  by  the  Board,  and  with  the  same 
disregard  for  increased  cost  manifested  throughout  the  report.  It  is 
l)roper  to  state  in  this  connection  that  the  harbor  has  been  designed 
with  the  only  object  in  view  of  securing  an  easy  and  safe  entrance  to 
this  canal,  and  not  for  commercial  purposes.  The  local  business  at  the 
entrance  of  the  canal  is  not  expected  to  be  large,  and  in  any  case  the 
company  would  not  be  justified  in  providing  for  it,  at  a  largely  increased 
expense,  before  the  need  becomes  manifest  as  a  business  proposition. 
With  the  harbor  as  designed,  several  ships  can  be  accommodated  in  it 
without  interference  with  the  traffic  through  the  canal,  and  the  topog- 
raphy of  the  vicinity  presents  ample  facilities  for  enlarging  the  inner 
basin  by  dredging,  when  it  becomes  requisite  and  profitable  to  do  so. 
The  Tola  Basin,  and  especially  the  lake,  will  be  inland  harbors,  where 
the  attractive  surroundings  and  healthful  climate  will  offer  strong 
inducements  for  ships  to  lie  at  anchor  for  rejiairs,  for  coaling,  or  to 


80  NICA&AGUA    CANAL. 

replenish  their  stock  of  fresh  provisions,  with  the  additional  advantage 
that  while  lying  in  fresh  waters  their  bottoms  will  be  cleared  of  bar- 
nacles. For  these  reasons,  large  harbors  at  either  terminus,  beyond 
what  is  actually  needed  for  admission  to  the  canal,  are  not  regarded  as 
necessary  or  advisable  from  the  start. 

The  proposed  harbor  of  Brito  has  been  located  and  designed  with  a 
view  to  satisfy  the  conditions  first  stated  at  the  least  expense,  and  as 
laid  down  has  met  with  the  approval  of  eminent  harbor  engineers  and 
experienced  navigators  familiar  with  that  coast.  The  claim  of  undue 
exposure  is  not  substantiated  by  facts.  The  harbor  of  San  Juan  del 
Sur,  about  8  miles  to  the  east  of  Brito,  but  600  yards  deep  inside 
of  the  rocky  points  forming  the  bight,  comparatively  shallow,  with  a 
shelving  bottom  and  a  sandy  beach,  and  open  on  its  whole  width  to  the 
south  and  southwest,  is  uniformly  smooth  and  affords  safe  anchorage 
for  shiiis,  hardly  a  ripple  being  ever  observed  on  the  sandy  beach  sur- 
rounding it.  The  prevailing  winds  on  that  coast  are  the  "  i)apagallos," 
blowing  from  north-northeast  to  east-Tiortheast,  directly  oft'shore,  fre- 
quently with  great  violence  opposite  Lakes  Managua  and  Nicaragua, 
reaching  their  maximum  force  in  December  and  January.  They  are 
first  felt  about  5  or  6  miles  offshore  and  their  influence  extends  30  or 
miles  from  the  coast.  During  the  rainy  season,  from  May  to  November, 
gales  from  the  west  and  southwest,  called  "chubassos,"  are  frequent 
and  at  times  violent,  although  of  very  short  duration. 

The  proposed  entrance  to  Brito  Harbor  is  open  only  to  the  south  and 
southeast,  which  are  the  least  exposed  quarters ;  the  prevailing  swell 
will  be  practically  arrested  by  the  west  breakwater  and  its  deflection 
into  the  harbor  j)revented  by  the  east  jetty,  and  in  view  of  what  takes 
place  at  San  Juan  del  Sur,  there  is  absolutely  no  reason  to  apprehend 
any  undue  agitation  in  the  basin  or  the  breaking  of  the  surf  on  the 
west  beach  of  the  harbor,  as  feared  by  the  Board;  the  ground  swells 
break  on  the  shelving,  open  beach  of  the  coast,  but  not  in  deep  waters, 
and  as  to  long,  high  waves,  it  is  well  known  that  the  swells  are  scarcely 
noticeable  half  a  mile  from  the  coast,  where  ships  can  in  ordinary 
weather  lie  with  perfect  comfort. 

The  statement  that  the  borings  made  by  the  company  are  too  few  in 
number  and  of  too  little  penetration  to  determine  the  underlying  mate- 
rials within  the  harbor  limits  is  not  sustained  by  the  facts.  Sixty  bor- 
ings were  made  in  the  viciuitj^,  and  their  penetrations  were  sufficient  to 
show  the  character  of  the  material  to  be  removed  and  the  outline  of 
the  rock  ledge  within  the  harbor  limits.  There  is,  it  is  admitted,  some 
important  and  necessary  data  yet  to  be  obtained  before  the  final  plans 
for  harbor  construction  can  be  completed  in  all  details,  and  to  respond 
to  the  degree  of  precision  demanded  by  the  Board,  but  not  generally 
observed  in  the  first  estimate  for  work  of  this  kind.  In  this,  as  in  all 
other  works  proposed,  the  company  had  not  yet  reached  that  degree  of 
com})leteness  in  its  investigations  which  would  warrant  final  and  detail 
drawings  to  be  made  for  each  and  every  work  proposed,  but  the  vast 
amount  of  data  accumulated  concerning  the  route  has  been  appreciated 
by  practical  engineers  and  regarded  as  unusually  complete  for  the  for- 
mation and  first  presentation  of  the  canal  project,  and  the  estimate  of 
its  cost  has  been  considered  sufficiently  approximate  within  the  limits 
of  the  large  margin  allowed  for  contingencies. 

Additional  surveys  and  examinations. — The  additional  surveys  and 
other  examinations  recommended  by  the  Board  would  add  but  little,  if 
any,  ijractical  value  to  the  data  already  at  hand.  The  only  material 
result  would  be  a  waste  of  valuable  time  and  money  and  unnecessary 
postponement  of  the  work. 


NICARAGUA   CANAL.  81 

The  information  recommeuded  to  be  obtained  in  the  vicinity  of  Brito 
Harbor  would  be  of  value  for  the  preparation  of  final  working  drawings, 
but  it  is  not  essential  for  determining  the  practicability  of  the  work  or 
its  approximate  cost.  The  surveys  of  Brito  and  Greytown  were  made 
by  experienced  naval  officers,  trained  in  coast-survey  work,  and  are 
believed  to  have  been  made  and  the  work  platted  correctly. 

It  will  be  difficult  to  find  valid  reasons  for  the  assertion  made  in  the 
rei)ort  that  a  new  location  is  necessary  in  the  western  division  from  the 
summit  lock,  9;^  miles  distant  from  the  lake,  to  the  Pacific,  following 
the  left  bank  of  the  Kio  Grande  instead  of  the  right  bank,  as  proposed 
in  the  present  location.  Fo  section  of  the  country  traversed  by  the 
canal  has  been  more  thoroughly  examined  and  no  portion  of  the  route 
more  carefully  located  than  that  between  the  lake  and  the  Pacific.  The 
low-level  route  adopted  by  the  company  is  the  result  of  the  most  careful 
study  of  data  thus  accumulated  and  of  a  perfect  knowledge  of  the  coun- 
try, and  the  Board  admits  that  it  is  perfectly  practicable,  involves  no 
engineering  difficulties,  and  could  be  built  at  less  cost  than  the  route 
suggested  by  them  on  the  south  side  of  the  stream.  The  diversion  of 
the  upper  Rio  Grande,  as  proposed  by  the  Board  in  connection  with  the 
modified  location  suggested,  can  be  carried  out  as  well,  and  better,  as 
it  would  be  less  expensive,  in  connection  with  the  present  location, 
which  has  the  additional  important  advantage  of  avoiding  long  and 
expensive  artificial  channels  for  the  diversion  of  the  Rio  Grande,  with 
all  the  dangers  and  engineering  difficulties  connected  therewith. 

The  claim  for  the  new  location  that  it  would  avoid  complications  in 
crossing  the  creek  Tola  is  not  deserving  of  serious  consideration,  as 
that  insignificant  water  course  can  be  readily  disposed  of,  either  by 
taking  it  into  the  canal,  discharging  it  by  means  of  a  small  weir  into 
the  Rio  Grande,  or  by  passing  it  under  the  canal  directly  into  the  main 
stream.  It  is  firmly  believed  that  had  the  board  devoted  a  short  time 
to  the  examination  of  the  topography  of  the  Tola  valley  and  other 
physical  conditions  the  change  of  location  suggested  would  not  have 
received  serious  consideration.  The  new  surveys  recommended  in  the 
lake  would  add  no  value  to  the  data  now  on  hand.  The  surveys  at  the 
entrance  on  both  sides  could  not  be  made  with  more  care  or  by  more 
competent  officers  than  those  employed  by  the  company.  The  sound- 
ings are  quite  sufficient  in  number  and  location  for  the  purpose  of  esti- 
mating the  amounts  of  materials  to  be  excavated.  On  the  west  coast, 
where  no  borings  were  made  in  the  lake,  the  excavation  is  estimated 
as  wholly  in  rock,  as  indicated  by  the  character  of  the  outcrop  on  the 
shore,  and  no  change  made  in  the  material  could  add  to  the  estimated 
cost.  On  the  east  side  the  material  to  be  excavated  has  been  definitely 
determined. 

That  the  lake  is  sufficiently  deep  for  free  navigation  of  the  largest 
vessels  afloat  between  i^oints  14  miles  from  the  outlet  and  about  1,500 
feet  from  the  west  coast,  the  limits  of  the  company's  surveys,  has  been 
established  by  soundings,  and  has  not  yet  been  questioned.  A  com- 
jdete  hydrographic  chart  of  the  lake  will  be  necessary  when  the  canal 
is  open  to  traffic  in  order  to  properly  mark  the  locations  of  the  best 
anchorages  and  the  navigable  portions  of  the  lake,  but  the  need  of 
such  expensive  survey  at  the  present  stage  of  the  enterprise  can  not 
be  clearly  understood. 

As  regards  the  San  Juan  River,  it  has  been  stated  before  that  the 
company  had  the  free  use  of  the  surveys  made  for  the  Government  by 
a  corps  of  competent  officers  under  Commander  L.  P.  Lull,  United 
States  Navy,  in  1872-73.    There  is  nothing  to  suggest  the  belief  that 

N  c 6 


82  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

any  material  changes  have  taken  place  in  the  channel  since  that  date, 
or  that  a  new  survey  under  the  direction  of  the  board  would  add  much 
of  practical  value  for  the  purpose  of  approximately  estimating  the 
amount  of  excavations  required.  Borings,  it  is  admitted,  would  be  of 
interest  and  value,  but  are  not  regarded  so  essential  as  the  board  seems 
to  believe.  Where  rock  is  known  or  suspected  to  exist  the  excavation 
has  been  estimated  as  entirely  in  rock,  and  an  examination  of  the 
river  bed  and  banks  would  readily  satisfy  an  engineer  or  contractor 
that  there  is  no  rock  where  dredgeable  material  has  been  estimated  for. 

One  week's  exploration  of  the  river  and  adjacent  valley  would  proba- 
bly have  been  sufficient  to  satisfy  the  board  that  there  are  no  practica- 
ble dam  sites  between  Machuca  and  Ochoa,  first,  on  account  of  the  great 
depth  of  water  in  that  section  of  the  river,  and  second,  on  account  of 
the  prohibitory  cost  of  canalization  involved.  There  is  a  dam  site  some 
5  miles  below  Ochoa,  but  it  presents  no  advantage  over  the  i^resent 
location.  Below  that  point  there  is  no  eligible  site  either  for  a  high  or  a 
low  dam.  The  region  of  the  Serapiqui,  as  well  as  all  others  below  Ochoa, 
has  been  carefully  examined  by  the  Government  surveying  parties 
and  by  the  engineers  of  the  company,  and  the  impracticability  of  a  dam 
in  that  section  of  the  river  fully  determined.  A  casual  examination  of 
the  topography  in  the  vicinity  of  the  river  would  remove  all  doubts  on 
that  point.  An  inspection  of  the  sketch  showing  the  result  of  the 
explorations  made  under  the  direction  of  the  board  in  the  region  of  the 
Serapiqui  fails  to  show  the  least  ground  for  encouragement  as  regards 
the  possibility  of  finding  a  practicable  line  by  which  the  flow  of  the  com- 
bined San  Juan  and  Serapiqui  rivers  could  be  checked  in  that  vicinity. 
I  see  in  the  sketch  but  a  confirmation  of  my  examinations  of  that  locality 
and  of  the  utter  impracticability  of  the  scheme.  The  exploration  in 
search  of  dam  sites  from  the  Serapiqui  to  the  San  Juanillo,  and  as  far  as 
Greytown,  could  be  made  in  a  few  hours  from  the  deck  of  a  steamboat 
sufficiently  to  convince  a  practical  engineer  of  the  hopelessness  of  the 
scheme.  But  allowing,  for  the  sake  of  argument,  that  such  dam  sites 
could  be  found,  the  canalization  of  the  river  by  a  series  of  low  dams 
would  be  impracticable  if  for  no  other  reason  than  because  of  the  rapid 
accumulation  of  sand,  which  would  soon  fill  up  the  channel  of  the  river 
in  the  various  reaches,  and  the  mere  suggestion  of  the  scheme  shows  a 
complete  lack  of  knowledge  of  existing  physical  conditions. 

The  Board  recommends  that  from  Ochoa  to  Greytown  hydraulic  and 
other  data  be  gathered  and  studied  before  final  location  and  construc- 
tion plans  can  be  decided  upon,  and  that  alternative  plans,  where  such 
suggest  themselves,  must  be  investigated  with  equal  thoroughness  for 
comparison  and  selection.  This  question  of  additional  hydraulic  data 
has  been  already  discussed  in  this  paper,  and  the  reasons  against  their 
necessity  are  equally  applicable  in  the  i)resent  instance.  As  to  alterna- 
tive plans,  all  those  giving  indications  of  possible  practicability  have 
been  carefully  examined,  and  the  present  location  is  the  result  of  most 
thorough  investigations  and  a  complete  knowledge  of  the  country. 

The  completion  of  the  flowage  line  of  the  San  Francisco  basins  on 
the  north  side  of  the  canal,  and  the  measurement  of  the  watersheds  of 
the  several  streams,  would  lead  to  no  practical  results.  The  concession 
gives  the  company  the  right  to  occupy  all  the  lands  flooded  by  their 
work  free  of  cost,  and  consequently  the  actual  area  submerged  in  the 
expansion  and  contraction  of  the  basin  is  a  matter  of  but  little  concern 
to  either  the  company  or  to  the  Government  of  Nicaragua,  as  the  lands 
are  of  no  present  value. 

The  watershed  of  the  streams  draining  into  the  basin  as  a  whole  is 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  83 

known  with  an  approximation  to  accuracy  sufficient  for  all  practical 
purposes.  An  actual  measurement  of  tlie  catchment  basin  would  cer- 
tainly be  interesting,  and  of  some  value  in  admitting  of  closer  compu- 
tation of  the  amount  of  surplus  waters  to  be  discharged  over  weirs  and 
through  sluices;  but,  as  in  all  such  cases,  large  allowances  must  be 
made  for  a  possible  maximum.  The  neat  calculation,  based  on  the  pre- 
cise watersheds,  measured  at  considerable  expense  of  time  and  money 
and  at  a  time  when  the  enterprise  can  least  stand  it,  would  be  of  no 
more  value  than  a  close  approximation  easily  arrived  at  from  the  data 
on  hand. 

The  Board  has  evidently  been  misinformed  regarding  the  conditions 
existing  at  Benard  Lagoon,  and  it  is  to  be  regretted  that,  with  such 
erroneous  impression  as  is  manifested  in  the  discussion  of  that  iiortion  of 
the  route,  it  did  not  take  the  trouble  to  visit  the  canal  route  in  that  region. 
Such  an  inspection  would  have  shown  that  the  so-called  lagoon  does  not 
differ  in  physical  characteristics  from  the  other  swamps  between  Grey- 
town  and  Lock  No.  1.  The  location  eastward  and  avoiding  Benard 
Lagoon,  recommended  by  the  Board,  was  made  by  the  company  and 
afterwards  abandoned  on  account  of  increased  cost,  and  more  particu- 
larly because  it  would  involve  a  long,  expensive,  and  dangerous  diver- 
sion of  the  San  Juanillo  River.  The  disturbance  of  the  natural  drainage 
and  the  diversion  through  an  alluvial  formation  of  such  a  large  stream, 
in  close  proximity  to  the  excavated  canal,  should  be  avoided  if  possible, 
and  in  this  case  there  is  no  need  of  it.  The  statements  that  there  have 
been  no  borings  over  a  portion  of  the  sea-level  canal  and  no  explora- 
tions made  of  the  depth  and  other  difficulties  to  be  apprehended  in  the 
endeavor  to  traverse  the  Benard  Lagoon  are  incorrect. 

Between  Greytown  and  the  eastern  end  of  the  divide  cut,  80  borings 
were  made,  penetrating  to  the  bottom  grade  of  the  canal,  of  which  40 
borings  were  made  over  the  sea-level  portion  of  the  canal,  the  average 
distance  between  borings  being  about  1,000  feet.  Considering  the 
uniform  character  of  the  material  and  the  fact  that  all  the  sea-level 
section  is  dredgeable,  these  are  more  than  sufficient  for  a  close  estimate. 
In  addition  to  the  above,  there  were  121  borings  made  at  the  sites  of 
locks  Nos.  1, 2,  and  3,  in  the  same  portion  of  the  route.  Altogether,  096 
borings  have  been  made  by  the  company,  of  which  GQ  were  made  with 
the  diamond  drill,  and  numerous  samples  of  the  materials  met  with 
could  have  been  seen  by  the  board  at  the  company's  office  if  desired. 
Of  that  number,  103  borings  were  made  on  the  lower  route  from  Ochoa 
to  Greytown,  as  to  the  location  of  which  reference  will  be  made  here- 
after. The  company  could  not  have  anticipated  the  views  of  the  Board 
in  this  matter,  but  it  has  done  all  that  was  believed  to  be  necessary  for 
the  x)iirpose  of  arriving  at  a  close  estimate  of  cost.  Further  repeated 
references  to  borings,  to  the  gauging  of  streams,  and  to  other  hydraulic 
data  in  the  report  need  no  further  remark,  as  all  these  questions  have 
been  fully  discussed  already. 

The  Board,  disregarding  or  ignoring  all  that  has  been  done  before 
the  present  route  was  adopted,  recommends  a  resurvey  or  reexamina- 
tion to  be  made  of  the  entire  matter  of  the  choice  of  route  for  the 
eastern  division.  Nothing  could  lead  to  a  more  unwarranted  waste  of 
a  large  sum  of  money.  Keference  has  already  been  made  to  the  utter 
impracticibility  of  a  canalization  of  the  San  Juan  below  the  San  Carlos, 
as  suggested  by  the  Board.  In  this  connection  attention  is  called  to 
the  statement  on  page  84  of  the  report,  to  the  effect  that  the  volcanic 
sand  brought  down  by  the  river  San  Carlos  from  the  volcanic  range  in 
Costa  Eica,  where  that  river  has  its  sources,  has  been  intermittent  in 


84  NICARAGUA   CANAL. 

character  and  variable  iu  amount,  and  for  sometime  past  has  been  sus- 
pended entirely.  The  first  proposition  is,  of  course,  correct,  as  the 
sand  brought  down  by  the  river  is  proportioual  in  amount  to  the  rain- 
fall in  its  watershed  and  consequent  floods,  and  intermittently  corre- 
sponding to  the  frequency  of  the  floods.  The  second  proposition  has, 
however,  no  foundation  in  fact,  and  there  is  nothing  to  even  suggest 
it,  as  the  waters  of  the  San  Carlos  in  flood  are  loaded  to  full  capacity 
with  sedimentary  matter,  which  iu  turn  is  partly  carried  down  by  the 
San  Juan  to  the  sea,  and  partly  builds  numerous  shoals  and  sand  banks 
in  its  channel.  Any  hope  for  a  canalization  of  the  San  Juan  River 
below  the  San  Carlos,  based  on  such  erroneous  theoiy,  if  for  no  other 
reasons,  is  unworthy  of  consideration. 

The  Board  also  recommends  a  resurvey  of  what  is  called  the  lower 
route  on  the  north  side  and  close  to  the  bank  of  the  San  Juan  from 
Ochoa  to  the  San  Juanillo,  and  thence  to  Grreytown.  This  route  has 
been  surveyed  three  times:  First,  by  Colonel  Childs;  secondly,  by  the 
United  States  surveying  expedition  under  Commander  Lull ;  and  third, 
by  the  Canal  Company.  The  last  was  a  careful  location,  cross  sectioned 
and  bored  along  the  whole  length.  From  the  accumulated  data  a  project 
was  completed  sufficiently  accurate  and  in  detail  for  purposes  of  com- 
parison with  the  present  route.  After  consideration  of  all  the  engineer- 
ing difficulties  due  to  floods  in  the  San  Juan,  and  the  crossings  of  the 
San  Francisco  and  numerous  other  streams  draining  the  vast  and 
hilly  watershed  north  of  San  Juan  from  Ochoa  to  the  Sarapiqui,  as  well 
as  to  increased  length  of  canal  and  greater  cost,  the  route  was  aban- 
doned in  favor  of  the  present  one,  as  the  more  economical  and  the  safer 
of  the  tAvo.  All  the  above  data  is  in  possession  of  the  company.  The 
statement  that  no  idea  can  be  formed  as  to  the  seriousness  of  the  above 
objections  until  all  the  streams  afiecting  the  building  of  the  canal  have 
been  gauged  and  their  regimen  known,  involves  a  postponement  of  the 
solution  of  the  problem  for  an  indefinite  length  of  time,  as  the  regimen 
of  the  streams  can  be  said  to  be  known  for  practical  purposes  only  after 
many  years  of  constant  observations,  and  then  only  approximately. 
Acting  on  the  usual  method  of  approximations  adopted  in  such  cases, 
the  difficulties  have  been  carefully  considered  by  the  company  and  found 
to  be  so  serious  as  to  warrant  the  abandonment  of  the  route.  It  would 
be  interesting  to  know  whether  the  Board  contemplates  other  changes 
of  location  beyond  these  above  noted,  but  it  can  be  safely  stated  that 
the  whole  subject  has  been  so  thoroughly  examined  by  the  company 
that  the  field  for  investigation  may  be  regarded  as  exhausted,  and  any 
attempt  to  find  a  route  other  than  those  already  surveyed  and  consid- 
ered will  end  only  in  waste  of  time  and  money.  Extensive  explorations 
have  been  made  on  both  the  south  and  the  north  sides  of  the  San  Juan, 
of  which  records  were  not  kept,  as  they  showed  no  indications  of  i)os- 
sible  improvement  on  what  was  already  known. 

As  to  minor  changes  of  detail  in  the  present  route,  there  may  be  a 
small  margin  for  imj)rovement,  but  not  of  material  importance.  When 
work  was  suspended  in  Nicaragua  the  company  had  in  the  field  several 
parties  of  engineers  engaged  in  making  surveys  with  a  view  to  minor 
changes  in  details.  The  four-lock  system,  suggested  by  the  Board  in 
lieu  of  the  three  locks  proposed  by  the  company's  plans  in  the  eastern 
division,  had  alreadv  received  consideration  and  was  discarded.  The 
jflan  and  record  of  that  change  can  be  found  in  the  company's  records. 

Notwithstanding  the  opinions  of  the  Board,  the  Canal  Company 
claims  to  have  fully  complied  with  all  the  conditions  requisite  to  a 
practical  estimate  of  the  cost  of  constructing  a  navigable  ship  canal 


NICARAGUA   CANAL.  85 

across  the  territory  of  the  State  of  Nicaragua,  in  compliance  with  the 
conditions  and  requirements  of  its  concession. 

If  its  gauging-  of  streams,  and  other  data,  concerning  rainfall,  etc., 
are  not  so  extended  and  complete  as  are  pronounced  necessary  by  the 
Board,  it  is  because  they  are  entirely  sufficient,  and  all  that  is  requisite 
for  a  sufficiently  proximate  estimate  of  the  cost  of  such  a  canal  as  is 
proposed  to  be  constructed  by  the  company — a  canal  in  every  way 
sufficient  for  the  transit  of  20,000,000  tons  of  traffic. 

It  is  the  company's  records  which  show  the  maximum  rainfall  at 
Greytown,  297  inches  in  one  year,  quoted  by  the  Board,  and  that  fact 
is  openly  stated  in  the  company's  publications,  demonstrating  that  even 
the  most  extreme  known  conditions  have  been  recognized  in  the  prepa- 
ration of  the  company's  estimates. 

It  remains  to  consider  briefly  and  in  their  consecutive  order  the  con- 
clusions submitted  by  the  Board  at  page  85  et  seq.  of  their  report. 

"1.  Greytown  Harbor:"  Apart  from  technical  objections  to  the 
change  proposed,  already  stated,  the  concessions  and  the  unwilling- 
ness of  the  Nicaraguan  Government  to  allow  the  terminal  ports  of  the 
canal  to  be  located  other  than  on  Nicaraguan  territory  are  prohibitory 
of  the  change  proposed,  inasmuch  as  the  canal  can  only  be  constructed 
by  the  use  of  the  iSan  Juan  River  and  Lake  Nicaragua,  which  are  under 
Nicaraguan  sovereignty. 

"  2.  Canal  Greytown  to  Lock  No.  1 : "  The  proposition  of  the  Board 
is  neither  in  the  interest  of  economy  nor  of  practical  advantage,  but  is 
of  practical  disadvantage,  as  has  been  shown. 

"  3.  Lock  No.  1  to  end  of  Summit  Level  at  Lock  No.  3 : "  The  multi- 
plication of  the  number  of  locks  is  immaterial  in  itself,  but  it  is  objec- 
tionable for  lack  of  desirable  sites,  and  on  the  ground  of  increased 
expense,  and  because  such  increase  is  not  necessary,  as  has  been  shown. 

"  4.  Eastern  Divide  Cut  Data : "  The  only  objection  to  the  Board's 
suggestion  on  this  point  is  the  consequent  delay  and  the  unnecessary 
increase  of  expenditure,  the  company's  data  being  all  that  is  practically 
necessary. 

"5.  San  Francisco  Basins:"  The  suggestions  under  this  head  are  in 
the  line  of  unnecessary  increase  of  cost  as  has  been  shown.  That  of 
wreckage  is  a  remote  possibility  which  exists  in  every  great  public 
work,  and  there  is  no  reason  why  it  should  have  greater  force  in  this 
case  than  in  others. 

"G.  Ochoa  Dam:"  It  has  been  shown  that  a  suitable  site  for  a 
masonry  dam  on  the  San  Juan  Eiver  can  not  be  found,  and  that  a 
rock-fill  dam  is  the  only  alternative.  The  Board  admits  the  feasibility 
of  construction  of  such  a  dam,  The  use  of  such  dams  in  India,  over 
the  crest  of  which  water  flows  in  volume  far  in  excess  of  even  the 
Board's  largest  estimate  of  the  flood  flow  of  the  San  Juan  has  been 
shown,  and  is  conclusive  assurance  of  the  permanency  of  such  a  dam 
at  Ochoa  when  constructed  in  the  manner  proposed. 

"  7.  San  Carlos  Ridge." 

"8.  San  Juan  River,  Ochoa  to  Lake." 

"  9.  Lake  Nicaragua." 

Are  all  suggestions  involving  unneccessary  delay  and  increase  of 
exj)enditure.  Any  accumulation  of  data  beyond  what  the  company 
already  possesses,  and  which  may  modify  the  final  development  of  its 
plans,  may  and  will  be  accumulated  as  the  work  progresses,  all  as  has 
been  shown. 

"10.  The  Lajas  Rio  Grande  route:"  The  possibility  of  an  alternative 
location  for  the  La  Flor  dam  is  recognized  and  provided  for  in  the  com- 


86  NICARAGUA   CANAL. 

paiiy's  plans.  The  suggestion  of  tlie  change  of  the  location  of  the 
canal  route  is  objectionable  not  only  on  the  ground  of  increased  cost, 
but  because  of  engineering  difficulties,  avoidable  by  the  company's 
location,  as  has  been  shown. 

"11.  Brito  Harbor : "  The  suggestions  indicate  superficial  observation 
of  existing  conditions.  They  involve  increase  of  cost  for  no  adequate 
reason,  and  unnecessary  and  disadvantageous  changes  in  jilan. 

GENERAL  SUGGESTIONS. 

"12:"  Objectionable,  on  ground  that  as  a  commercial  undertaking 
it  is  unnecessary  to  charge  the  enterprise  with  providing  excess  of 
capacity  for  accommodation  of  the  transit  of  the  very  few  war  vessels 
of  the  excessive  dimensions  mentioned. 

"13  and  14:"  Objectionable,  as  involving  unnecessary  delay.  Pro- 
visions are  made  in  the  company's  plans  for  extreme  conditions,  and, 
therefore,  the  accumulation  of  data  only  necessary  to  completion  may 
progress  as  the  work  is  carried  on. 

"15  and  16:"  Objectionable,  as  involving  unnecessary  delay.  Such 
investigation  has  been  most  thoroughly  and  completely  made  by  the 
company,  as  has  been  shown. 

"17:"  Immaterial. 

"18:"  Assertion  unwarranted  by  practical  experience." 

"19:"  Admitted. 

"20,  21,  and  22:"  Depend  upon  the  accuracy  of  the  Board's  conclu- 
sions, which  are  questioned  as  hereinbefore. 

COST   OF  WORK  AND  ESTIMATES. 

In  fixing  the  unit  of  prices  for  an  estimate  of  cost  of  the  canal,  the 
Board  has  been  influenced  by  the  controlling  impressions  received  in 
its  hurried  trip,  made  under  many  difficulties,  through  a  country  and 
in  a  climate  entirely  new  to  it,  and  has  adopted  the  same  extravagant 
methods  and  conclusions  prevalent  throughout  the  report. 

The  effect  of  the  climate  and  rainfall  in  the  execution  of  the  works 
proposed  are  greatly  magnified,  and  the  conclusions  arrived  at  are  at 
variance  with  practical  results  attained  both  by  the  canal  company 
and  by  experienced  contractors  in  doing  work  at  Nicaragua. 

It  is  admitted  in  the  report  that  a  sufficient  supply  of  unskilled  labor 
can  be  obtained  from  Central  America  and  the  West  Indies,  especially 
from  Jamaica;  that  under  good  management  the  Jamaica  negroes  are 
industrious  and  fairly  effective  and  their  wages  only  about  one-half  as 
much  as  in  the  United  States,  but  that  the  efficiency  of  the  laborers  is 
much  less  in  proportion.  It  is  also  admitted  that  under  complete  police 
control  and  subjected  to  judicious  sanitary  regulations  there  will  be  no 
more  sickness  than  occurs  on  public  works  in  many  parts  of  the  United 
States.  The  Board,  however,  finds  a  concurrence  of  opinion  among 
those  who  have  had  experience  in  the  management  of  construction  work 
in  Central  America  that  the  cost  of  work,  due  to  inefficient  labor  and 
unfavorable  location,  is  about  twice  as  much  as  in  the  United  States. 

Attention  is  invited  in  this  connection  to  the  practical  results  accom- 
plished by  responsible  and  experienced  contractors  who  have  spent 
considerable  time  in  Nicaragua  at  all  seasons  of  the  year,  and  knowing 
the  route  of  the  canal  thoroughly  constructed  llj  miles  of  railroad  for 
the  company,  in  order  to  better  study  the  health  of  the  country  and  the 
question  of  the  sui)ply  of  labor  for  the  construction  of  the  canal. 

There  can  scarcely  be  a  more  unhealthful  piece  of  work  in  the  entire 


NICARAGUA   CANAL.  87 

canal  than  that  section  of  the  railroad  constructed  from  Greytown  10 
miles  across  the  swamps  to  the  higher  ground  beyond.  More  than  half 
the  men  employed  worked  in  the  swami)s,  in  water  from  their  knees  to 
their  shoulders,  ten  hours  a  day,  doing  hard  work,  and  not  always 
having  proper  food;  and  yet  out  of  about  1,000  laborers  employed  by 
the  contractor  for  seven  months  only  2  died  of  disease.  The  men  did 
not  stop  work  on  account  of  the  rain,  but  worked  steadily  through  the 
rainy  season,  without  protection  while  at  work,  except  two  half  days 
during  the  seven  months,  and  at  the  end  of  that  time  they  were  in  as 
good  health  as  at  the  beginning,  or  even  better.  Most  of  the  men  were 
Jamaica  negroes,  but  there  were  also  two  or  three  hundred  native  Nicar- 
aguans  and  Costa  Ricans  and  a  few  negroes  from  the  United  States. 
The  contractors  therefore  concluded  that  the  matter  of  health,  as  affect- 
ing the  difficulty  and  cost  of  construction  of  the  canal,  need  hardly  be 
considered  more  than  in  estimating  the  cost  of  work  in  almost  any  part 
of  the  United  States.  One  party  of  the  contractors  had  previously 
had  considerable  experience  in  building  the  railroad  from  San  Jose 
to  Guatemala  City,  in  Central  America.  They  expressed  themselves 
satisfied  that  a  constant  force  of  15,000  men,  or  more,  could  be  had 
on  the  eastern  end  of  the  work  from  the  island  of  Jamaica  alone. 
These  men  are  good  at  task  work,  and  are  fairly  good  in  large  gangs 
under  foremen.  A  small  number  of  engine  drivers,  excavators,  and 
steam-drill  men,  stokers,  etc.,  can  be  had  from  the  same  sources,  also 
a  good  many  rough  masons  and  carpenters. 

The  cost  of  the  10  miles  of  road  built  by  the  contractors  was  $32,411.18 
per  mile,  including  material,  labor,  subsistence,  and  contractors'  profit 
of  10  per  cent.  The  ties  and  rails  were  imported  from  the  United 
States  and  lauded  at  Greytown  under  many  difficulties  and  at  consid- 
erable cost.  The  actual  cost  was,  therefore,  a  little  over  one-half  the 
estimated  cost  of  $60,000  per  mile  allowed  in  the  company's  estimate. 
That  the  road  was  thoroughly  built  is  shown  by  the  fact  that,  after 
four  years  of  complete  neglect,  the  work  was  found  by  the  Board  in  a 
remarkably  good  state  of  preservation,  with  the  exception  of  the  ties 
that  need  renewing. 

These  contractors,  with  a  full  knowledge  of  the  country  and  of  all 
the  borings  made  on  the  route  of  the  canal,  are  of  the  opinion  that 
"the  work  can  be  done  on  the  whole  canal  for  about  the  unit  prices 
estimated  by  the  chief  engineer  and  give  the  contractors  fair  profit," 
and  they  are  ready  to  contract  under  bonds  to  do  the  work  on  that 
basis. 

The  work  done  by  the  company,  such  as  telegraph  lines,  grubbing, 
and  clearing  and  dredging,  has  also  cost  less  than  the  estimate.  The 
dredging  was  done  with  an  incomplete  and,  in  some  respects,  unsuit- 
able plant,  and  its  cost,  exclusive  of  deterioratian  of  plant,  but  includ- 
ing all  other  charges,  was  11  cents  per  cubic  yard,  the  estimated  cost 
being  20  cents. 

There  seems  to  be  no  good  reason  for  the  statement  that  the  machin- 
ery used  will  be  of  but  little  value  after  the  construction  of  the  canal, 
that  hardly  any  of  it  will  be  worth  removal,  and  its  entire  cost  would 
therefore  be  charged  to  canal  construction,  making  the  plant  charge 
higher  than  usual.  With  the  canal  finished  and  open  to  traffic  and 
a  railroad  parallel  to  it,  there  is  no  reason  why  the  plant  could  not  be 
transported  to  any  part  of  the  world  where  there  may  be  a  demand  for 
it,  at  the  same  or  less  cost  of  transportation  than  in  the  United  States. 
The  dredging  plant  used  in  Panama  for  several  years  was  transferred 
to  Greytown  in  good  working  order,  and  the  whole  plant  of  the  Panama 


88  NICARAGUA   CANAL. 

Canal  could  have  been  shipi^ed  to  Nicaragua  without  much  trouble 
and  at  small  cost.  However,  it  is  quite  likely  that  contractors  in  bid- 
ding for  work  on  the  canal  would  figure  but  little  on  future  returns 
from  the  sale  of  the  plant  used  in  the  work,  and  it  may  well  be  doubted 
that  the  contractors  for  the  Chicago  Drainage  Canal,  with  the  experi- 
ence gained  at  Suez,  and  Manchester,  and  other  similar  works,  expect 
any  j)roceeds  on  the  completion  of  their  contracts  from  the  sale  of  the 
special  machinery  and  other  aj)plianccs  u.sed  in  the  works,  except  as 
scrap. 

UNIT  PRICES. 

Dredging  is  being  done  in  the  harbor  of  Mobile  to  the  amount  ef 
many  million  yards,  the  material  deposited  6  miles  at  sea  for  7  cents 
per  cubic  yard,  and  the  contractors  appear  to  be  prosi^erous.  In  Far 
Eockaway,  where  the  material  has  been  deposited  by  pipes  as  far  as  4 
miles  from  the  dredges,  it  costs  from  4  to  6  cents  per  cubic  yard.  On 
the  coast  of  England,  dredging  at  the  harbor  entrances  costs  from  5  to 
8  cents  per  cubic  yard.  The  dredging  done  by  the  company  in  Nicar- 
agua, with  an  incomplete  and  unsuitable  plant,  cost,  as  has  been  already 
stated,  11  cents  per  cubic  yard. 

The  Board  estimates  dredging  in  Nicaragua  at  20,  25,  and  30  cents, 
which  is  not  only  enormously  in  excess  of  the  cost  elsewhere,  as  shown 
above,  but  also  of  work  actually  done  in  Nicaragua,  and  of  prices  at 
which  bids  for  the  work  by  responsible  contractors  have  been  made  to 
the  company. 

In  the  earth  and  rock  excavation  the  company's  estimates  are  from 
66  to  78  per  cent  higher  than  the  cost  of  similar  work  at  the  Chicago 
Drainage  Canal;  the  Board's  estimate  is  150  per  cent  higher. 

Mr.  Thomas  A.  Edison  writes  from  Orange,  N.  J.,  under  date  December 
18,  1895,  stating  that  at  his  works,  at  Edison,  N.  J.,  with  present  appli- 
ances, the  total  cost  of  ore  for  drilling,  blasting,  loading,  and  delivery 
at  the  crushing  plant,  including  all  materials,  labor,  coal,  rejiairs,  etc., 
is  19.17  cents  per  ton  (2,240  i)ouuds),  the  average  distance  from  the 
quarry  to  the  mill  being  about  2,000  feet.  The  pieces  are  taken  out  as 
large  as  possible,  not  to  exceed  5  tons,  and  he  adds  that,  with  the  appli- 
ances the  company  is  now  putting  in  the  cranes  for  loading  the  ore  into 
the  skips,  and  with  the  plant  working  at  full  capacity  (5,000  tons  per 
twenty  hours),  he  fully  expects  to  deliver  the  ore  at  crushing  plant  for 
from  12  to  14  cents  per  ton,  and  probably  less. 

The  ore  weighs  about  190  pounds  per  cubic  foot.  The  canal  rock 
would  weigh  from  150  to  160  pounds  per  cubic  foot,  and  Mr.  Edison 
thinks  that,  with  the  appliances  at  Edison,  N.  J.,  it  should  be  mined, 
loaded,  and  delivered  on  the  bank  for  about  25  cents  per  cubic  j^ard. 
On  this  basis  the  canal  estimate  for  rock  excavation  would  be  from 
four  to  five  times  the  actual  cost  of  similar  work  in  this  country,  and 
the  Board's  estimate  from  five  to  eight  times  larger. 

Mr.  Edison  says  that  they  blow  out  several  thousand  tons  at  each 
blast,  and  try  to  get  the  pieces  as  large  as  possible,  not  exceeding  5  tons, 
as  with  his  appliances  a  man  can  load  a  5-ton  piece  as  quickly  as  one 
weighing  500  pounds. 

The  same  methods  should  be  employed  at  Nicaragua,  and  the  addi- 
tional cost  of  50  cents  per  cubic  yard  estimated  by  the  Board  for  the 
stone  to  be  used  in  the  rock-fill  dam  is  entirely  unnecessary,  especially 
if  the  rock  excavation  and  the  dam  are  built  under  one  management, 
as  they  should  be,  as  it  would  then  be  in  the  interest  of  the  contractor 
to  blow  out  and  select  the  material  suitable  for  the  dam. 


NICARAGUA   CANAL.  89 

Considering  that  the  cost  of  loading  the  stone  on  the  cars  and  of  hanl- 
ing  it  to  the  dump  are  included  in  cost  per  cubic  yard  of  excavation, 
and  that  the  railroad  is  the  property  of  the  company,  it  seems  that  the 
charge  of  1  cent  per  ton  per  mile  for  transportation  to  dam  is  entirely 
unreasonable. 

The  Board's  estimate  for  rock  excavation  under  water  is  excessive. 
The  rock  blasts  well,  much  better  than  the  stratified  limestone  in  the 
St.  Marys  River,  and  there  is  no  reason  why  the  cost  of  plant  in  Nica- 
ragua should  be  50  jjer  cent  greater  nor  the  pay  roll  double.  At  any 
rate,  the  amount  of  rock  to  be  removed  is  large  and  the  plant  is  sinix)le 
and  comparatively  inexpensive.  As  to  the  pay  roll,  it  was  shown  dur- 
ing the  progress  of  the  work  in  Nicaragua  that  the  company  could  get 
all  the  skilled  mechanics  needed  for  about  the  ruling  wages  in  New 
York,  and  ordinary  mechanics  for  much  less. 

The  Board  estimates  concrete  at  $9.50  per  yard,  based  on  the  cost  of 
concrete  for  lock  construction  at  Hennepin  Canal.  By  investigating 
the  subject  somewhat  further  the  Board  would  have  found  that  in  the 
construction  of  the  concrete  locks  in  the  Coosa  Eiver,  Alabama,  20,000 
cubic  yards  of  Portland  cement  concrete  have  been  laid,  and  up  to  the 
close  of  the  fiscal  year  ending  June  30, 1895,  the  average  cost  per  cubic 
yard,  including  material,  labor,  engineering,  and  supervision,  has  been 
$4.57-1^0,  or  about  one-half  the  cost  of  concrete  in  the  Hennepin  Canal 
locks,  used  by  the  Board  as  the  basis  for  its  estimate.  Other  conditions 
in  this  same  work  are  worthy  of  note  in  this  connection.  Portland 
cement,  used  in  the  Coosa  dam,  cost  $2.48  per  barrel.  The  best  quality 
can  be  contracted  for  free  of  duty,  in  Nicaragua,  at  $1.C0  to  $1.70  per 
barrel.  The  work  is  done  by  negro  labor,  paid  for  at  $1  for  a  day  of 
eight  hours,  or  12^  cents  per  hour,  under  climatic  conditions  more  try- 
ing than  those  of  Nicaragua.  In  Nicaragua  the  negro  works  ten  hours 
to  the  day  and  his  wages  and  cost  of  subsistence  amount  to  about  85 
cents  per  day,  say,  8^  cents  per  hour. 

Portland  cement  will  be  delivered  at  Nicaragua  free  of  duty,  the 
stone  and  sand  can  be  had  for  the  cost  of  transportation  over  the  com- 
pany's railroad,  and  as  to  the  effect  of  rain  on  the  cost  of  the  work,  the 
whole  structure  can  be  j)rotected  by  temporary  sheds,  and  that  difficulty 
entirely  obviated.  The  average  price  of  $6  j)er  cubic  yard  for  concrete 
in  locks  in  the  company's  estimate  is  ample,  and  responsible  contractors 
in  New  York  are  ready  to  make  contracts  under  bonds  to  do  the  work 
at  that  price. 

The  prices  for  metal  work,  estimated  by  the  company,  are  too  high. 
The  material  can  be  had  from  Europe  and  all  the  work  done  at  less 
cost  than  in  the  United  States. 

As  to  the  sluices  and  weirs  there  is  no  reason  for  changing  the  com- 
pany's estimates,  which  are  regarded  as  ample  to  meet  the  require- 
ments. It  has  been  stated  that  the  11^  miles  of  railroad  built  by  the 
company  through  the  most  difficult  portion  of  the  line  with  insufficient 
plant  and  dealing  with  serious  difficulties  in  landing  the  material  cost 
at  the  rate  of  $32,411.18  per  mile.  The  company  has  estimated  the 
balance  of  the  road  to  be  built  on  the  east  side  at  $50,000  per  mile, 
including  turn-outs,  switches,  tanks,  and  temporary  stations.  The 
Board  has  estimated  for  a  double-track  road  at  $100,000  per  mile, 
which  is  not  regarded  as  necessary. 

In  the  western  division  the  company  has  estimated  for  a  single-track 
narrow-gauge  road  to  conform  with  the  Nicaragua  Railroad.  The 
Board  estimates  for  a  double-track  standard-gauge  railroad,  which  is 
not  needed  for  construction  work  and  would  be  objectionable  to  the 
IS'icaraguan  Government  as  not  conformable  to  their  present  system. 


90  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

It  is  firmly  believed  that  the  company's  unit  prices  for  the  works 
proposed  are  quite  sufficient,  and  that  the  Board's  increased  cost  of  the 
work  is  uuAvarranted  and  is  contradicted  by  known  facts  at  hand  and 
the  fact  that  responsible  contractors  familiar  with  the  country  and  the 
route  of  the  canal  are  prepared  to  enter  into  contracts  for  building  the 
whole  work  at  about  the  company's  estimated  cost. 


STATEMENT  OF  COL.  JAMES  ANDREWS. 

Mr.  Andrews  said : 

Mr.  Chairman  and  Gentlemen:  I  appear  before  you  as  a  private 
citizen.  I  have  thought  and  studied  a  great  deal  over  this  problem. 
It  is  somewhat  in  my  line.  I  have  spent  my  life  on  public  works.  I 
am  here  to'protest  most  earnestly  against  this  Government  being  sad- 
dled with  the  cost  of  an  enterprise  to  carry  on  which  money  enough 
can  not  be  raised  from  individuals  to  pay  for,  the  engineering.  That 
gives  it  a  very  bad  asjiect.  One  point  I  will  call  your  attention  to, 
which  it  seems  to  me  is  a  vital  one  and  I  do  not  think  has  been  alluded 
to,  is  the  question  of  location.  You  take  that  map  and  go  to  England 
and  ask  the  shii^owners  and  the  public  there  where  they  would  locate 
a  crossing  across  the  American  Isthmus,  find  they  would  say  Nica- 
ragua— everyone  of  them — because  it  would  suit  their  business  exactly 
and  would  be  to  the  detriment  and  injury  of  American  sea  commerce. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  My  understanding  was  that  Colonel  Andrews  is 
interested  in  the  Tehuantepec  Railroad,  and  that  he  would  address 
himself  to  that  subject. 

Mr.  Andrews.  I  do  not  understand  that  that  has  any  standing  here. 
I  am  connected  with  that  railroad,  have  been  for  many  years,  and  will 
be  glad  to  answer  any  questions  that  may  be  put  in  regard  to  it. 

Mr.  Corliss.  I  think  we  should  hear  any  objections  to  the  Nicaraguan 
Canal  scheme  which  Colonel  Andrews  may  have  to  oflfer. 

Mr.  Patterson.  I  think  so,  too. 

Mr.  Andrews.  I  often  hear  of  the  Suez  Canal  as  compared  with  the 
Nicaragua  and  Panama  canals  and  with  other  canals.  Allow  me  to  say 
that  there  is  no  such  thing  as  a  canal  at  Suez.  I  have  been  there. 
There  is  no  canal.  There  is  a  salt-water  ditch  at  the  sea  level ;  not  a 
rock  in  the  canal  as  big  as  a  bean ;  not  a  dam  in  it.  Compare  the  loca- 
tion of  the  proposed  Nicaragua  Canal  with  a  country  in  which  there  is 
never  exceeding  2  inches  of  rainfall.  There  are  no  slides,  no  washing, 
excejit  a  little  sand  drifted  in  by  the  winds.  Comi)are  that  with  building 
a  canal  through  a  mountainous  country,  and  as  regards  safety  for  the 
ships  passing  through  the  Suez  Canal,  with  either  of  these  proposed 
canals.  It  is  absurd !  It  is  ridiculous !  This  must  stand  on  its  own 
merits.  The  Suez  Canal  is  through  a  sand  drift,  drifted  by  the  winds, 
with  the  deepest  cut  48  feet  deep — pure  sand.  During  my  trip  through 
there  we  met  seven  steamers.  We  never  met  one  that  we  did  not  see  go 
aground  before  we  got  out  of  sight  of  her.  There  was  not  a  ship  in  that 
trip  that  went  three-quarters  of  a  mile  without  gi'ounding. 

Had  it  been  a  rock  bottom,  such  as  the  proposed  Nicaragua  Canal, 
she  would  never  have  gotten  another  foot.  No  steamship,  no  iron  ship 
especially,  will  go  into  a  rock  canal  unless  timber-cushioned  in  some 
way  to  save  her  from  grinding  along  the  rocks.  She  can  not  do  it. 
You  would  rip  her  open  from  stem  to  stern,  and  every  sea  captain  knows 
it.    It  can  be  lined  up,  but  here  is  a  proposed  i^lan  with  i^erpendicular 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  91 

sides  from  the  water  down  to  the  bottom,  blasted  out;  no  estimate 
made  for  smootliiug  and  polishing  the  sides.  You  must  assume  it  is 
left  as  the  powder  will  leave  it.  You  can  not  steer  one  of  these  ships 
in  such  a  canal.  The  least  pufi"  of  wind  takes  her  from  side  to  side; 
sets  her  swaying.  Let  a  man  stand  on  one  of  the  docks  at  New  York 
and  see  one  of  oar  big  ships  making  a  landing.  When  she  gets  within 
30  or  20  feet  of  the  dock  it  takes  her  a  quarter  of  an  hour  for  fear  of 
hurting  herself,  and  then  she  comes  up  against  a  pine  log — not  a  rock. 
1  tell  you,  gentlemen,  a  canal  down  there  is  a  fearful  undertaking. 

Another  point.  The  Suez  Canal  has  ruined  the  English  sailing  ships; 
driven  them  off  of  the  sea.  Dig  a  canal  where  the  American  ship  can  not 
go,  partly  on  account  of  the  winds  and  on  account  of  the  expense  of 
towing  her,  and  the  cheap  English  tramp  steamer  would  go  in  there 
and  would  drive  out  all  American  ships.  Never  a  single  sailing  ship 
has  gone  through  the  Suez  Canal  for  the  same  reasons. 

Mr.  Bennett.  An  ocean  vessel  or  other  vessel  has  wooden  protectors. 
Would  they  not  be  available  in  the  Nicaragua  Canal"? 

Mr.  Andrews.  They  hang  small,  little  buffers  over  the  sides. 

Mr.  Bennett,  Is  that  not  enough^ 

Mr.  Andrews.  No,  sir;  they  are  loose.  They  would  not  save  the 
bottom  or  the  bilge,  or  the  lower  part  of  the  ship.  Slie  would  have  to 
be  encased  with  timber  from  the  bottom  up  to  go  through  a  rock  canal, 
especially  if  she  is  an  iron  ship.  Now,  our  merchant  marine  to-day,  all 
told,  is  0,G00  and  odd  seagoing  vessels;  that  is,  they  had  this  number 
a  few  years  ago.  Four  hundred  and  twenty  of  those  only  are  steamers. 
The  balance  are  sailing  ships.  Dig  a  canal  where  the  English  tramj) 
and  ship  steamer  can  go  through,  and  away  go  all  your  sailing  ships; 
they  are  driven  off'  of  the  ocean.  The  only  trade  left  for  our  large 
clii^per  ships  is  the  Pacific  grain  trade,  going  around  Caiie  Horn.  Now, 
I  say  any  i)olicy  that  will  give  the  advantage  to  the  cheap  English 
steamer  will  drive  them  out  of  that  trade,  and  you  had  better  study 
the  matter  seriously  or  you  will  find  you  have  ruined  what  little  sea- 
going marine  we  have,  and  given  a  monopoly  to  the  Englishman,  who 
is  laughing  in  his  sleeve  and  waiting  for  it.  The  French  Government 
took  the  risk  and  dug  out  the  Suez  ditch  at  a  cost  of  over  $90,000,(K>0. 
John  Bull  stepped  in  and  carried  oft'  seven  eighths  of  all  the  tonnage. 
He  gobbled  up  the  whole  thing.  The  French  have  not  added  one 
steamer  to  their  commercial  marine;  not  one. 

Now,  if  you  do  not  study  it  seriously  you  will  probably  find  you  have 
done  the  same  thing  for  the  States,  so  far  as  foreign  traffic  is  concerned. 
The  Englishmen  will  come  in  there,  having  steamers  by  the  thousand. 
They  go  wherever  they  can  get  a  cargo.  The  grant  by  Nicaragua  to 
this  Government  says  specifically  that  all  nations  shall  be  on  an  equal- 
ity; that  there  shall  be  no  favoritism  given.  All  ships  that  pay  the 
toll  shall  be  free  to  go  through.  The  United  States  will  build  it  and 
not  use  it.  It  seems  to  me  foolish  and  very  dangerous — taking  all  the 
risks  and  getting  hardly  any  benefits.  It  is  a  monster  undertaking. 
The  idea  of  expending  this  money  some  2,000  miles  away  when  we  have 
lots  of  places  to  put  it;  lots  of  them,  without  going  there!  Let  indi- 
viduals dig  all  the  canals  they  wish.  I  see  by  the  papers  and  other- 
wise that  the  United  States  ought  to  gobble  up,  monopolize  this  crossing. 
Why,  the  world  would  be  against  any  such  thing — would  not  permit  it. 
The  Nicaraguan  Government  has  sense  enough  to  say  you  shall  not  do 
it;  that  it  shall  be  as  open  as  the  ocean  to  the  world's  traffic.  You  can 
not  monopolize  it  in  any  way.  You  can  furnish  the  money,  and  the 
matter  of  cost  in  dollars  is  not  very  important;  whether  it  as  a  hun- 


92 


NICARAGUA    CANAL. 


dred  million  or  five  hundred  million,  I  believe  the  United  States  could 
stand  it. 

I  see  by  reading  the  papers  here  that  this  bill  provides  for  a  capital  of 
$300,000,000.  The  engineers  estimate  $60,000,000.  There  is  $150,000,000 
of  stock  and  $150,000,000  of  bonds.  Three  hundred  million  dollars  for 
a  work  to  cost  less  than  $60,000,000!  Something  very  queer  there! 
I  am  no  lawyer,  but  I  can  find  nothing  in  this  bill  or  any  of  these  bills 
that  have  been  before  j'^ou  for  seven  or  eight  years  that  shows  any  fixed 
quantity  or  stability.  There  is  a  grab  of  $4,500,000  that  is  to  be  taken 
out  and  paid  to  the  gentlemen  in  New  York.  One  gives  $10,000,000  of 
paid-up  stock,  another  $1,000,000.  There  is  something  strange  in  tliat; 
something  unreliable;  something  you  ought  to  get  to  the  bottom  of 
before  you  recoumiend  such  a  bill.  One  of  them  provides  for  an  issue 
of  $75,000,000  stock  and  $75,000,000  bonds.  Another  of  $150,000,000 
stock  and  $150,000,000  bonds.  Which  is  right,  or  are  any  of  them 
right?  I  do  not  believe  any  of  them  are  near  right  from  my  own  experi- 
ence. As  I  have  said,  I  have  silent  my  life  in  these  works.  The  Man- 
chester Canal,  with  which  I  am  familiar,  cost  $77,000,000,  built  in  the 
heart  of  England,  with  the  most  modern  machinery  that  could  be 
applied,  runs  up  the  Mersey  Valley  30  miles,  over  the  Mersey  to  Man- 
chester— $77,000,000 — and  they  are  in  debt,  and  last  year  it  fell  behind. 
Its  revenues  did  not  pay  its  working  expenses.  I  have  left  that  pajier 
in  my  room.     I  got  it  from  Benjamin  Baker  a  week  ago. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Through  what  kind  of  a  country  does  this  canal 
run? 

Mr.  Andrews.  A  beautiful  country. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Is  it  a  rocky  country? 

Mr.  Andrews.  Partially,  sandstone;  mostly  soil. 

Mr.  Patterson.  What  kind  of  ships? 

Mr.  Andrews.  Mostly  steamers — small  steamers.  One  of  these 
steamers  a  few  months  ago — I  forget  her  name;  I  have  it  somewlierc — 
going  down  went  into  one  of  the  locks  with  a  little  too  much  speed  and 
took  the  gates  out  with  her.  I  say,  a  canal  proposed  across  the  Ameri- 
can isthmus,  with  its  dangers  from  floods,  rainfalls,  earthquakes,  and 
other  natural  phenomena  there,  no  human  being  could  estimate  the  cost 
of  maintaining  or  guaranteeing  its  maintenance  for  one  week.  The 
sliglitest  injury  to  one  of  the  locks  and  you  are  gone  up.  Every  foot  of 
the  canal  is  worthless  until  it  is  repaired.  The  same  with  the  dams. 
And  there  are  no  such  dams  as  proposed  here — in  India  or  anywhere 
else.  These  gentlemen  who  have  been  severely  criticised  here  this 
morning  of  course  could  not  stand  by  and  have  borings  made,  but  they 
sensibly  say  so  and  recommend  an  appropriation  big  enough  to  send 
down  a  commission  with  ample  equipments  and  give  them  two  years  to 
make  these  tests.  Then  you  will  know  what  you  are  doing.  Now,  it  is 
guesswork;  but  they  do  some  good  guessing. 

On  page  77  of  the  report,  coming  to  the  proposed  dam  where  borings 
had  been  made  to  228  feet,  on  which  no  engineer  of  experience  would 
found  a  dam  or  a  lock.  That  is  one,  and  if  that  is  so — I  have  no  doubt 
of  it,  because  they  did  not  make  the  borings — that  is  the  key  to  the 
entire  canal  scheme,  unless  they  get  another  location  entirely.  One  bad 
dam,  only  one,  or  one  badly  founded  lock  would  ruin  the  whole  project. 
You  catch  a  lot  of  ships  bound  for  that  canal,  whether  they  have  crossed 
the  ocean  or  are  on  the  way;  they  find  a  lock  out  of  order.  They  are 
not  provisioned  or  equipped  to  go  around  Cape  Horn.  They  will  have  to 
go  home,  and  I  do  not  think  they  will  ever  go  back  to  that  canal  again, 
even  after  it  is  repaired.    It  is  a  huge,  monstrous  undertaking.    Money 


NICARAGUA   CANAL.  93 

will  do  it  with  plenty  of  time,  but  it  is  a  fearful  undertaking  in  its  magni- 
tude to  construct  and  a  much  more  fearful  one  to  maintain.  It  must  work 
Sundays  and  Saturdays,  day  and  night,  or  else  it  will  be  "dammed" 
without  using  rocks.  Now,  if  there  is  any  precedent  anywhere  for  work 
of  this  kind,  I  would  like  to  know  where  the  precedent  is.  I  will  go 
and  investigate  it  if  there  is  such  a  precedent.  I  have  never  been  able 
to  find  one  in  all  my  readings  and  travels. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Are  you  a  practical  engineer? 

Mr.  Andrews.  Sort  of  self-educated.  I  have  been  in  many  big 
works.  I  built  the  jetties  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  Eiver  and 
the  masonry  of  the  St.  Louis  Bridge;  sunk  those  piers,  one  of  them  112 
feet  below  the  surface,  that  weighed  44,000  tons.  I  have  done  work  of 
that  kind  all  my  life.  I  have  had  hard,  practical  experience.  I  have 
had  to  hoe  my  own  row  in  that  respect,  and  that  is  where  a  man  gets 
lessons.  I  tell  you,  too,  with  water  as  an  enemy  you  have  an  enemy 
that  never  stops  working ;  it  never  tires.  Start  a  small  leak  and  it  will 
get  bigger. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Do  I  understand  that  there  is  no  instance  in  the 
world  where  there  is  a  canal  excavated  through  rock  that  is  used  by 
large  sea- going  vessels'? 

Mr.  Andrews.  Not  one  that  I  have  ever  heard  of  or  seen,  and  I  have 
traveled,  as  I  say,  in  almost  every  country— with  the  late  Captain  Eads 
all  through  Russia  and  the  countries  over  there.  We  never  found  a 
single  instance  of  that  kind.  There  are  some  canals  through  which 
vessels  of  from  30  to  40  tons  may  pass,  drawn  by  mules,  wliere  they  may 
have  rock  banks,  but  never  where  a  ship  has  gone  through  a  canal  with 
rock  sides  and  rock  bottom,  and  a  ship  drawing  within  a  foot  or  two  of 
all  the  water  in  it ;  never  one  such  instance.  If  there  is  such  an  instance, 
I  would  like  to  know  where  it  is. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Will  you  name  one,  Mr.  Menocal? 

Mr.  Menooal.  The  Manchester  Canal  is  more  than  half  rock  exca- 
vation, and  there  are  ships  of  over  5,000  tons  that  pass  through  it.  It  is 
more  than  half  rock,  and  with  less  depth  than  is  proposed  for  the  Nica- 
ragua Canal.  The  gentleman  may  have  been  there.  I  have  been  there 
for  two  years  and  am  acquainted  with  the  facts. 

Mr.  Andrews.  Yes,  sir;  and  it  is  taken  out  as  smooth  as  a  plastered 
wall. 

Mr.  Menocal.  The  question  of  locks,  it  seems  to  me,  should  not  be 
discussed.     The  one  lock  can  be  i)assed  without  a  minute's  delay. 

Mr.  Andrews.  A  lock  with  10  feet  lift  only. 

Mr.  Menocal.  Two  hundred  and  thirty-one  days  without  a  minute's 
delay,  and  it  has  been  in  operation  since  1880.  I  think  all  the  delay  in 
that  lock  in  that  time  has  been  a  few  hours,  by  reason  of  an  accident 
which  happened  once  to  one  of  the  valves.  When  I  say  about  two  hun- 
dred and  thirty-one  days,  remember  that  18,000  vessels  went  through  it 
that  year.  That  will  give  you  an  idea  of  how  many  had  to  pass  in 
fourteen  years,  day  and  night. 

Mr.  Patterson.  What  is  the  width? 

Mr.  Menocal.  Sixty  and  80  feet.  The  one  dam  there  is  60  feet  wide, 
and  that  is  stone. 

Mr.  Andrews.  Of  cut  stone. 

Mr.  Menocal.  I  think  the  locks  ought  not  to  be  discussed.  With 
regard  to  rock  excavation,  I  will  say  that  more  than  one-half  of  the 
Manchester  Canal  is  solid  rock ;  nothing  but  rock  from  the  surface  of 
the  ground  to  the  bottom. 

Mr.  Andrews.  I  will  give  you  what  was  given  to  me  in  a  letter. 


94  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

There  were  but  two  ships  last  year,  prior  to  their  last  report,  that  went 
up  to  Manchester  and  got  cargoes  for  foreign  countries.  There  were 
nothing  but  small  boats,  except  these  two  foreign  ships,  that  went  up 
that  canal  in  one  year.  That  is  the  state  of  facts,  and  they  crawl  and 
creep  along  there.  There  is  no  current.  As  I  said,  the  canal  is  exca- 
vated to  a  considerable  extent  through  red  sandstone  and  is  exceed- 
ingly smooth.  Of  course,  ships  can  go  into  a  lock,  but  those  locks  have 
but  16  feet  lift,  instead  of  45  or  50  feet.  They  are  much  safer  and  less 
liable  to  give  way  from  the  huge  mass  of  water  and  i)ressure  in  these 
enormous  locks.  They  are  not  subject  to  big  rainfalls  or  to  slidefii 
Here  are  hundreds  of  feet  of  hillsides  slipping  down  into  these  canals. 
One  cart  load  of  rock  there,  and  a  ship  may  run  onto  it  in  the  night  and 
stop  there  until  a  dredge  boat  is  brought  to  take  it  up. 

It  is  surrounded  with  so  many  difficulties  that  no  private  individuals 
will  put  their  money  in  it.  I  can  not  see  why  the  Government  should 
be  asked  to  do  it.  Let  them  build  it.  Let  individuals  build  a  dozen 
canals ;  but  why  saddle  a  thing  of  that  kind,  that  individuals  are  afraid 
of,  on  the  people  of  the  United  States  ?  That  is  a  mystery.  It  is  such 
a  grand  thing  and  so  cheap,  and  so  easy  to  construct!  Lots  of  cai)ital 
ought  to  go  into  it  if  those  are  facts.  If  they  are  not  facts,  private 
individuals  will  not  put  their  money  into  it.  Do  as  the  French  are 
doing  at  Panama — not  with  the  aid  of  the  French  Government.  We 
are  met  every  day  with  the  threat  that  if  the  American  Government 
does  not  put  this  thing  through  immediately,  England  will  take  it  up. 
If  that  is  not  enough  to  make  old  man  Monroe  turn  over  in  his  grave, 
I  do  not  know  what  will.  England  come  over  and  dig  a  canal?  Not 
much.  John  Bull  will  wait  for  Americans  to  do  it,  and  then  send  his 
steamers  through. 

Where  are  we  going  to  get  our  share  of  if?  We  will  get  it  in  divi- 
dends. We  will  never  send  a  ship  through  there  in  competition  unless 
there  is  a  tariff — some  way  of  giving  our  ships  an  advantage  over  John 
Bull.  He  can  not  interfere  with  our  coast  trade,  bu.t  in  foreign  trade, 
where  there  is  open  competition,  the  cheapest  man  will  get  the  freight 
every  time.  Now,  I  say  some  scheme  ought  to  be  devised  by  which  a 
sailing  ship,  of  which  we  have  over  6,000,  can  fight  for  a  living  against 
the  English  steamer.  Give  them  a  chance.  Put  them  on  an  equality. 
But  the  laws  here  prohibit  that.  The  sailing  ship  is  to  get  no  cheaper 
rate  of  toll,  the  American  ship  no  cheai)er  tolls,  unless  they  ignore  the 
concessions.  All  are  to  be  on  the  same  footing.  There  is  to  be  no 
transfer  of  the  lauds  granted  or  of  the  franchises  to  any  foreign  Gov- 
ernment or  other  power.     No  doubt  you  have  read  it. 

There  is  no  use  in  my  taking  up  your  time  to  read  these  clauses,  but 
yet,  if  I  understand  it,  the  United  States  Government  is  admitted,  sub- 
stantially, the  owner.  They  are  to  get  the  majority  of  the  stock.  You 
buy  a  majority  of  the  stock,  and  the  property  is  yours,  as  I  understand 
it.  There  is  some  kind  of  a  hocus-pocus  process  of  that  kind  going 
through,  I  beheve,  and  then  what  good  will  it  do  them  after  they  buy  it 
if  they  have  to  let  the  Englishmen  use  it.  You  must  get  a  monopoly 
of  it.  Keep  an  army  there  if  necessary.  It  is  to  be  the  world's  high- 
way, open  to  every  nation  and  to  all  people,  on  a  big,  broad  scale.  Now, 
I  can  not  for  the  life  of  me  understand  why  they  come  here  and  ask  the 
United  States  Government  to  tax  the  people  to  the  amount  of  hundreds 
of  millions  to  dig  a  canal  that  there  are  still  some  private  individuals 
in.  Let  them  dig  it  for  themselves,  gentlemen.  I  have  no  doubt  you 
can  send  a  man  down  there  and  buy  out  Nicaragua  bodily  for  $200,000 
or  $300,000  and  then  build  the  canal  yourself. 

Mr,  Bennett.  I  object  to  that  going  in  the  record. 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  95 

Mr.  Andrews.  I  mean  buying  the  right  of  way. 

Mr.  Bennett.  I  object  to  auy  sucli  criticism  of  a  frieudly  Govern- 
ment. 

Mr.  Andrews.  All  right. 

The  Chairman.  It  is  not  criticism  by  anybody  but  this  gentleman. 
I  do  not  see  any  objection  to  it. 

Mr.  Andrews.  I  think  the  right  of  way  can  be  obtained  there. 
There  was  $100,000  paid  for  the  right  of  way.  I  think  another  $100,000 
woukl  get  it  for  the  United  States  Government  alone  without  buying 
out  this  one  that  individuals  have  had  in  hand  for  several  years.  That 
is  what  I  mean,  and  the  Governments  there  I  think  are  deserving  of  fair 
treatment.  They  are  poor  and  weak.  But  why  they  should  be  trampled 
on  and  their  restrictions  ignored  is  what  I  can  not  understand.  I  do 
not  think  the  English  language  can  be  clearer  than  this  clause  where 
they  say  that  this  shall  not  be  transferred.  If  you  will  excuse  me,  I 
will  read : 

Article  7.  The  present  cession  shall  be  transferrable  only  to  such  company  or  com- 
pauies  as  may  be  organized  for  the  purpose  of  constructing  or  operating  the  canal, 
and  in  no  case  to  foreign  Governments  or  to  foreign  public  powers. 

Now,  that  is  a  sensible  clause  for  the  Nicaraguan  Government  to 
put  in,  I  think. 

Mr.  Wanger.  Is  that  the  American  report? 

Mr.  Andrews.  It  is  in  the  Senate  report  here — Mr.  Sherman's  report 
of  1894  from  the  Senate  committee.  Now,  these  are  conditions  put  in 
by  the  Government  of  Costa  Rica.  Nicaragua  has  a  similar  restriction 
and  conditions  to  prevent  its  transfer.  It  says  none  of  the  lands  shall 
be  transferred,  none  of  the  right  of  way,  etc.  But  these  things  are  all 
before  you,  gentlemen.  I  do  not  wish  to  take  up  your  time  with  those, 
but  I  think  they  are  worthy  of  close  study  and  examination  j  but  see 
what  you  are  doing  before  you  put  this  thing  out  of  your  power  and  out 
of  your  reach.  That  Commission,  I  presume,  were  honest  people;  I  pre- 
sume so.  I  do  not  know  any  of  them.  They  went  over  this  route  in  a 
rapid  manner,  got  their  data  largely  from  the  maps,  plans,  and  that 
given  by  the  company's  engineers,  and  they  point  out  a  number  of 
things  here  that  I  think  all  the  civil  engineers  in  the  United  States  of 
practical  experience  will  back  up  and  say  are  right. 

There  is  a  good  deal  of  difference  between  practice  and  theory, 
especially  in  these  large  works.  It  is  so  easy  to  figure  up  so  many 
cubic  yards  and  say  how  much  it  will  cost  per  cubic  yard.  If  it  is  dry 
work  upon  the  face  of  the  earth  it  can  be  well  estimated,  but  sink 
foundations  down  below  the  water  level,  with  water  coming  in  on  you, 
I  do  not  know  how  any  man  can  estimate  the  cost  of  keeping  that  dry 
at  all  until  he  gets  his  foundations  in.  Adam  must  have  a  water  tight 
bottom  over  its  whole  area  able  to  stand  the  pressure.  It  must  not 
start  leaking.  If  it  does,  that  leak  will  keep  on  increasing,  and  I  do  not 
know  how  you  will  repair  it  except  to  tear  it  out.  But  I  say  these 
leaks  will  always  be  a  menace  to  constant,  steady  navigation,  so  great 
that  I  think  it  will  always  deter  private  capital.  If  not,  let  individual 
capital  build  it.  We  will  get  all  the  benefit  in  that  way  just  as  much 
as  if  the  Government  built  it,  if  all  nations  are  treated  alike  and  put  on 
the  same  footing.  And  the  danger  is,  gentlemen,  if  I  am  right,  and  as 
a  matter  of  common  sense,  first  and  foremost,  the  lack  of  winds  there. 
I  have  a  statement  here  from  the  late  Lieutenant  Maury,  the  most 
eminent  authority  that  ever  wrote  on  the  subject,  stating  that  if  through 
some  convulsion  in  the  neighborhood  of  Panama,  400  miles  of  Nicaragua, 
a  gap  were  opened  through  that  isthmus  as  wide  as  the  Strait  of 
Dover — 20  miles — no  sailing  ship  would  ever  avail  herself  of  it  on 


96  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

accouut  of  the  lack  of  winds  and  on  account  of  the  tropical  currents  in 
the  Caribbean  Sea. 

Mr.  Patterson.  My  information  is,  Colonel  Andrews,  that  those 
conditions  do  not  exist  at  Greytown  and  Brito. 

Mr.  Andrews.  Not  to  the  same  extent.  I  have  printed  letters  from 
Commodore  Selfridge  and  three  or  four  others  saying  that  the  winds 
there  are  very  uncertain.  There  are  several  months  in  the  year  of 
what  the  sailors  call  "doldrums" — sudden  gusts  of  wind  from  all  points 
of  the  compass  in  which  a  sailing  ship  may  be  drifting  around  for 
months  unless  she  can  pay  for  towage,  and  towage  down  there  is  very 
expensive,  and  it  would  be  very  dangerous  to  tow  a  shij)  through  into 
the  lakes  and  out  of  the  lakes  and  through  the  canal  and  through 
these  deep  cuts.     A  wooden  sailing  ship  I  am  sure  would  not  go  through. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLB.  Don't  you  know  that  Lieutenant  Maury  says  that 
these  conditions  do  not  apply  to  Nicaragua,  but  do  apply  to  Panama? 

Mr.  Andrews.  No,  sir;  I  do  not  so  understand  it. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  If  you  read  it,  you  will  see  he  says  so. 

Mr.  Andrews.  I  say  it  becomes  less  and  less  as  you  come  up  north, 
but  still  a  sailing  ship  will  have  a  very  uncertain  voyage  if  she  enters 
even  near  Nicaragua  during  certain  seasons  of  the  year.  At  other 
times  of  the  year  they  can  get  along  pretty  well.  But  leaving  that 
aside,  she  can  not  aiibrd  to  pay  for  towage.  Her  crew  would  be  idle 
during  the  time  the  vessel  was  towed,  and  another  crew  would  have  to 
be  employed.  I  have  seen  some  of  that  in  New  Orleans.  When  we 
finished  the  jetties  work  there  the  English  steamers  commenced  com- 
ing in  there  by  the  dozen,  and  they  are  doing  it  every  day,  and  the 
sailing  ship  has  been  driven  out.  The  trade  is  monopolized  now  by  the 
English  cheap  steamers,  because  of  the  cost  of  towage  against  the  sail- 
ing ship  up  and  down  the  river. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Would  not  the  building  of  this  canal  stimulate  the 
building  of  steamships  in  the  United  States'? 

Mr.  Andrews.  I  think  not,  as  long  as  the  competition  with  the 
European  steamer  is  not  hampered  so  as  to  give  the  advantage  to  the 
American  ship. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  But  the  tendency  would  bo,  would  it  not,  to  stimu- 
late the  building  of  steamers'? 

Mr.  Andrews.  Not  unless  our  steamers  could  be  built  at  a  price  to 
compete  with  the  English  steamer,  because  there  has  been  and  is  com- 
Ijetition;  no  protection  to  the  American  steamer,  except  on  our  coast 
trade.  On  the  foreign  trade,  wheat  going  from  San  Francisco  to  Europe, 
we  can  not  give  the  steamer  any  i^rotection. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  What  steamers  is  that  grain  carried  in  now? 

Mr.  Andrews.  They  are  largely  American  ships — large  clipper  ships. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Don't  you  know  that  out  of  more  than  eighty  ships 
that  left  Pnget  Sound,  wheat  laden,  and  a  considerable  larger  number 
from  Portland,  there  was  not  3  per  cent  of  American  sailing  ships'? 

Mr,  Andrews.  I  have  no  doubt  of  that,  but  bad  as  that  is  it  is  the 
only  trade  left.  There  are  no  sailing  shijis  now  between  our  Eastern 
States  and  Europe.  They  can  not  compete;  and  it  is  going  to  be  the 
same  there.  I  think  you  will  aggravate  the  evil  if  you  adopt  and  carry 
out  such  a  plan  as  the  one  proposed.  I  am  satisfied,  however,  that  a 
method  can  be  adopted  that  will  put  the  sailing  ship  on  an  equality 
with  the  steamer. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  What  is  our  proportion  of  sailing  ships  compared 
with  the  English  ? 

Mr.  Andrews.  I  can  not  answer  that.  I  can  only  give  you  the  sta- 
tistics of  a  few  years  ago,  when  our  sea  marine  consisted  of  6,000  and 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  97 

odd  ships  of  all  sizes  and  kinds.  Out  of  that  number  only  420  were 
steamers.  I  think  the  same  condition  exists  yet,  and  if  you  want  to 
stimulate  the  American  commercial  marine  you  are  not  going  to  do  it 
by  letting  the  English  ship  come  in.  We  ought  to  have  steamers,  but 
unfortunately  we  have  not,  and  can  not  get  them.  We  can  beat  the 
world  building  these  fine,  big  clipper  ships.  No  nation  can  compete  with 
us.  We  have  the  timber  and  materials  for  building  these  ships  cheaper 
than  they  can  be  built  anywhere  in  the  world.  But  we  have  not  reached 
the  point  where  we  can  build  the  steamer  as  cheap  as  England  can 
build  it  and  in  Europe.  Kow,  I  think  it  will  be  a  serious  mistake  to 
cripple  what  little  shipi^ing  we  have  and  stimulate  what  shipping  Eng- 
land has,  but  this  plan  if  carried  out  would  certainly  do  that  very  thing. 
I  think  this  phase  of  the  subject  is  worthy  of  your  most  i)rofound 
thought  and  study  and  examination.  If  we  can  get  across  from  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico  that  is  the  American  route.  Let  us  send  all  the  trade 
into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  I  think  the  United  States  would  be  justified 
in  going  to  war  to  prevent  the  building  of  either  of  these  canals  pro- 
vided you  can  get  a  transit  from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  across  into  the 
Pacific,  easily  protected  and  cheap.  Now,  I  am  not  here  to  advocate 
that,  because  it  has  no  standing  before  you,  but  I  will  say  that  if  any 
of  you  wish  any  information  in  regard  to  this  jiroposed  plan  I  shall  be 
glad  to  give  it  to  the  best  of  my  ability. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  You  refer  to  the  Tehuantepec  Ship  Eailway? 

Mr.  Andrews.  Yes,  sir;  in  which  I  have  been  interested  for  many 
years,  from  its  beginning. 

Mr.  VV ANGER.  Located  where? 

Mr.  Andrev/s.  (Points  out  route  on  map.)  Direct  from  the  mouth  of 
the  Mississippi  River. 

Mr.  Patterson.  What  is  the  distance? 

Mr.  Andrews.  One  hundred  and  thirty-two  miles,  and  the  highest 
summit  is  730  feet,  or  about  200  feet  higher  than  the  Washington 
Monument.  The  surveys  have  all  been  perfectly  made;  nine  hundred 
thousand  and  some  odd  dollars  have  been  expended  in  the  surveys. 
It  has  been  surveyed  until  not  an  inch  of  ground  will  have  to  be  gone 
over  again. 

Mr.  Patterson.  This  is  to  be  a  ship  canal? 

Mr.  Andrews.  Purely  a  ship  canal,  built  big  enough  to  hold  a 
modern  dry  dock  on  wheels,  taking  it  across  there  on  straight  lines. 
I  have  hundreds  of  certificates  of  its  practicability  from  the  ablest 
mechanical  shipbuilding  engineers  in  the  world,  from  our  own  country 
and  England. 

Mr.  Joy.  What  is  to  hinder  this  railway  from  being  built? 

Mr.  Andrews.  The  sole  spirit  of  it  was  the  late  Captain  Eads. 
While  struggling  to  get  it  on  its  feet  he  died.  Then  the  few  of  us  who 
were  left  got  Mr.  Windom  to  take  the  presidency  of  the  company  and 
help  us  to  go  on  with  it.  He  was  thoroughly  embarked  in  that  when 
he  died.  We  then  got  Mr.  Thau,  vice-president  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Railroad,  to  take  hold  of  it.  He  invested  largely  and  we  were  i:)rogress- 
ing  well  when  he  also  died;  and  the  fact  is,  now  there  are  hardly  any 
of  the  promoters  left.  Of  late,  however,  within  the  last  sixty  days,  I 
have  met  with  more  encouragement  to  build  it  than  I  have  before  had. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  You  always  do  when  it  looks  favorable  for  the 
Nicaragua  Canal. 

Mr.  Andrews.  No,  sir;  the  very  reverse.  When  this  thing  is  buried, 
as  I  think  it  ought  to  be,  we  will  start  the  ship  railway  and  build  it 
quickly,  and  there  the  American  ships  will  get  fair  treatment,  in  home 
or  foreign  trade. 

N  0 7 


98  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

Mr.  Patterson.  What  is  the  estimated  cost  of  tliis  railway? 

Mr.  Andrews.  I  would  answer  in  this  way:  It  would  depend  upon 
the  maximum  ship  that  is  to  be  carried  whether  we  use  G,  8,  or  10  rails. 
For  a  0,OOU-ton  ship  the  cost  would  be  something  below  $50,000,000. 
For  an  8,000  or  10,000  ton  ship  it  will  take  two  more  rails  and  cost  in 
proportion.  The  route  is  exceedingly  favorable.  The  first  53  miles  of 
the  route  will  be  as  easy  to  build  as  through  the  center  of  the  State  of 
Illinois.  It  is  an  open  prairie.  This  53  miles  could  be  built  in  a  few 
months,  and  this  would  be  more  than  a  third  of  the  distance.  There 
are  two  very  heavy  lills.  The  rest  of  the  work  is  exceedingly  light. 
As  to  the  apparatus,  I  have  estimates  from  men  of  experience  in  this 
line.  We  can  lift  any  ship  up  to  10,000  tons  to  any  height  less  than  50 
feet  and  put  it  on  a  car  ready  for  transportation  in  twenty  minutes  at 
either  terminus  of  the  road.  I  have  bona  fide  bids  from  these  parties, 
and  their  letters  are  printed  here  in  some  of  these  pamphlets  I  have. 

Mr.  Patterson.  I  am  not  advised  on  the  subject.  Is  there  any  such 
railroad  in  operation? 

Mr.  Andrews.  On  a  small  scale;  yes,  sir.  The  first  railroad  ride  I 
ever  had  in  my  life  was  on  a  ship  railway  on  a  small  scale.  It  was  a 
bolder  undertaking  to  construct  such  a  road  at  that  time  than  it  is  now. 
That  was  a  railroad  with  i^ine  scantling  for  the  rail,  a  flat  bar  nailed  on 
it.  It  ran  from  Philadelphia  to  Columbia,  a  place  below  Harrisburg. 
It  carried  a  canal  boat;  had  four  cast-iron  wheels.  At  the  point  men- 
tioned the  boat  was  run  into  the  canal  and  hauled  up  the  Juniata  Eiver 
to  Hollidaysburg,  and  put  on  the  cars  again  and  hauled  over  the  Alle- 
ghany Mountains  to  Pittsburg.    That  was  a  ship  railway. 

Mr.  Fletcher.  What  elevation? 

Mr.  Andrews.  About  2,500  feet  above  the  sea,  over  the  Alleghany 
Mountains,  very  nearly  parallel  to  the  Pennsylvania  Eailroad.  There  is 
a  boat  in  Sweden  I  saw  a  short  time  ago.  It  is  small,  only  80  feet 
long.  It  is  provided  with  four  wheels,  common  railway  wheels.  The 
axles  run  through  the  hull  of  the  boat.  She  is  a  paddle-wheel  ferry 
boat.  There  was  a  long,  projecting  promontory  there  she  had  to  go 
around  to  reach  her  destination,  a  city  on  the  other  side.  They  laid  a 
common  railroad  track,  with  timber  on  either  side.  She  runs  right  in, 
her  momentum  carrying  her  on  to  the  railroad.  The  engineer  gears  his 
machinery,  and  she  travels  a  mile  and  a  half  into  the  water  again. 
These  things  are  exceedingly  common,  gentlemen.  It  is  only  a  railway 
on  a  larger  scale  than  we  have  been  accustomed  to.  All  things  we  have 
are  growing  larger  and  larger. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  That  even  applies  to  locks  of  canals? 

Mr.  Andrews.  Yes,  sir;  and  so  are  the  ships  you  have  to  handle 
growing  larger;  so  are  railroad  bridges  and  railroads  themselves.  If 
you  will  allow  me  just  a  moment  I  will  touch  upon  this  subject,  as  we 
hQ.ve  commenced  upon  it.  It  is  an  interesting  question.  It  has  been 
before  the  Ilouse  and  before  the  Senate  in  Captain  Eads's  time  repeat- 
edly. It  was  referred  to  the  Senate  committee  for  examination  and 
report,  and  the  report  was  certainly  favorable  after  a  most  thorough 
investigation.  I  would  like  to  be  permitted  to  read  this  report  for 
you  gentlemen's  information.  On  March  G,  1882,  the  Committee  on 
Commerce  of  the  United  States  Senate  submitted  a  report.  No,  213, 
first  session  Forty-seventh  Congress,  on  the  then  pending  bill  to  incor- 
porate the  Interoceanic  Shij)  Kailroad  Company,  the  first  paragraph  of 
which  reads  as  follows : 

The  first  question  the  committee  considered  was  as  to  the  iiracticability  of  cou- 
stinclin;,'  a  railway  for  the  purpose  of  transportinjj  ships  and  their  cargoes.  The 
tt'-stimouy  before  the  committee  conclusively  demonstrates  the  fact  that  such  a  rail- 


NICAEAGUA    CANAL.  99 

way  ia  entirely  practicable,  and  that  loaded  vessels  can  be  transported  over  the  same 
■with  absolute  safety  and  econouiy.  The  committee  does  not  consider  it  necessary  to 
go  into  the  details  of  the  proposition,  but  refers  to  the  following  testimony  upon  the 
subject,  given  by  the  most  prominent  and  able  engineers  and  architects  in  the  world. 

The  subcommittee  which  took  this  testimony,  upon  which  this  unre- 
served favorable  report  was  based,  consisted  of  three  exceedingly  able 
men  to  take  u^)  such  a  subject.  One  of  them  was  Senator  Vest,  of 
Missouri;  the  second  was  Senator  Conger,  of  Michigan,  aud,  ablest  of 
all,  Senator  Warner  Miller,  of  N^ew  York.  They  recommended  it  as 
most  practicable.  This  matter,  gentlemen,  has  been  very  thoroughly 
cauvassed. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  What  year  was  that  report? 

Mr.  Andrews,  The  rei)ort  was  made  March  6,  1882,  from  the  Com- 
mittee on  Commerce  of  the  United  States  Senate,  first  session  of  the 
Forty-seventh  Congress.  It  gives  the  testimony,  I  suppose,  of  100 
shipbuilders,  dock  men,  etc.  A  very  popular  objection  to  this  is  the 
supposed  danger  to  a  ship  with  a  cargo  on  board  in  taking  her  out  of 
the  water.  Gentlemen,  facts,  facts  are  what  we  want  in  such  matters, 
not  theories.  Mr.  William  F.  Buckley,  president  of  the  New  York  Bal- 
ance Dock,  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Eads,  in  1881,  gives  the  following  list  of 
vessels  taken  out:  Ship  Great  Yietoria.  2,380  tons;  ship  Trmmpliant^ 
2,040  tons;  ship  Ameiicana,  2,054  tons;  shij)  HcKjerstown^  1,903  tons; 
ship  8.  C.  BJanchard,  1,903  tons;  ship  Colorado^  2,705  tons;  the  Rio 
Grande,  and  so  on,  and  steamers  Moriarch,  State  of  Nevada^  and  so  on; 
and  then  he  closes  with  this: 

We  do  not  refuse  any  class  of  ships  or  steamers,  even  with  their  coals  and  cargoes 
on  board,  whoso  length  does  not  exceed  the  length  of  the  dock.  In  every  case  where 
we  have  taken  up  steamers  witli  cargoes  it  has  been  done  without  the  least  strain  or 
injury  to  the  vessel,  but  as  the  rule  is  to  make  a  charge  for  cargo  they  usually  come 
without  cargo. 

But  if  they  come  with  cargo  they  are  taken  up.  Captain  Samuels, 
one  of  the  most  noted  ship  captains  to-day,  told  me  he  sailed  an  Ameri- 
can packet  from  New  York  to  Liverpool — the  ship  Drignort.  She 
encountered  a  severe  gale  before  getting  to  the  Irish  coast  and  sprung 
a  leak,  and  he  said  all  hands  were  kept  at  the  pumps  for  over  a  week 
to  keep  her  afloat.  And  when  she  got  to  Liverpool  she  happened  to 
reach  there  just  at  the  right  time  to  make  one  of  the  docks,  and  the 
ship  was  put  right  in  the  dock  with  her  cargo  and  0  feet  of  water  in 
her  hold  without  the  slightest  injury  to  the  ship.  Why,  gentlemen,  to 
dock  a  ship  nowadays  with  or  without  cargo — it  is  not  necessary  to  dis- 
cuss it.  The  only  reason  why  they  are  not  taken  out  with  their  cargoes 
every  day  is  because  their  cargoes  necessarily  add  a  great  deal  to  their 
weight,  and  so  it  is  more  expensive;  and  besides  that,  the  owners  gen- 
erally want  the  cargo  as  quickly  as  xiossible.  But  if  the  ship  is  in 
trouble  they  dock  her,  cargo  and  all.  There  is  no  danger  from  that 
source;  none  whatever. 

I  maintain  that  if  there  is  a  possibility  of  building  a  ship  transit  that 
will  carry  ships  quickly  and  safely,  all  sorts  and  kinds,  all  on  an  equal- 
ity so  far  as  cost  is  concerned,  and  that  is  closer  to  our  own  country 
than  any  other  project,  that  is  the  American  route.  That  is  what  ought 
to  be  encouraged.  It  is  near  home.  It  does  not  come  in  contact  with 
any  doubtful  claims,  such  as  the  Clayton-Bulwer  treaty,  that  some  claim 
is  still  in  force,  by  the  terms  of  which  it  was  agreed  that  neither  nation 
would  build  a  crossing  across  the  Isthmus  without  the  other  joining. 
I  do  not  know  whether  that  is  so.  But  in  any  case  this  is  the  American 
route.  By  this  route  i^lenty  of  winds  are  had.  We  carry  sailing  ships 
and  charge  so  much  a  ton,  and  the  same  as  to  steamships;  and  there- 
fore the  sailing  shii)  if  she  can  compete  will  have  an  opi)ortunity  to  do  it. 


100  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 


Committee  on  Interstate  and  Foreign  Commerce, 

House  of  Kepresentatives, 
WasM7igton,  1).  C,  Friday^  Api-il  17^  1896. 
The  committee  met  at  11  a.  m,,  Hon.  William  P.  Hepburn  in  the 
chair. 

STATEMENT  OF  MR.  M.  T.  ENDICOTT,  CIVIL  ENGINEER,  UNITED 
STATES  NAVY,  OF  THE  BUREAU  OF  YARDS  AND  DOCKS,  NAVY 
DEPARTMENT. 

The  Chairman.  Yon  may  take  your  own  course  as  to  the  method  of 
making  your  remarks,  and  after  you  have  finished  your  statement  the 
members  will  ask  such  questions  as  suggest  themselves.  Please  state 
your  full  name  an<l  your  present  occupation. 

Mr.  Endicott.  My  name  is  Mordccai  T.  Endicott,  civil  engineer, 
United  States  Navy,  consulting  engineer  of  Bureau  of  Yards  and  Docks, 
Navy  Department. 

The  Chairman.  How  long  have  you  been  in  that  service! 

Mr.  Endicott.  About  twenty-two  years. 

The  Chairman.  What  were  the  more  important  works  in  which  you 
have  been  engaged! 

Mr.  Endicott.  I  have  been  engaged  as  a  mining  engineer  in  the 
State  of  Pennsylvania;  in  bridge  and  raihoad  work  in  Connecticut  and 
Ohio,  and  work  of  a  general  character  in  the  Navy,  in  the  design 
and  construction  of  dry  docks  and  other  public  works  at  the  navy- 
yards  and  stations. 

Mr.  Stewart.  Have  you  had  any  experience  in  canal  construction! 

Mr.  Endicott.  No,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  You  were  one  of  the  gentlemen  appointed  by  the 
President  as  a  jnember  of  the  board  to  inspect  the  Nicaraugua  Canal, 
and  you  made  a  report  to  the  President? 

Mr.  Endicott.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  Please  state  to  the  committee  what  you  observed 
w^hile  you  were  engaged  in  your  duties  bearing  upon  the  subject-matter 
of  your  appointment. 

Mr.  Endicott.  We  were  members  of  a  board  appointed  to  visit  the 
route  of  the  proposed  Nicaragua  Canal,  make  an  examination  of  it  and 
the  i^lans,  and  report  upon  their  feasibility,  permanence,  and  cost.  We 
were  required  to  visit  the  route,  and  did  so  in  May,  1895.  I  want  to 
say  preliminarily,  before  stating  what  we  have  done,  that  it  appears  in 
the  pre^ious  testimony  before  this  committee  that  the  examination  made 
by  the  board  was  hasty  and  cuisory,  and  that  we  did  not  devote  the 
proper  time  to  an  examination  of  the  subject,  and  therefore  the  views 
and  judgment  of  the  board  on  the  matter  of  the  canal  should  not  be 
given  full  weight.  It  has  been  said  that  we  went  down  there  for  six 
weeks  and  spent  only  fifteen  days  on  the  work.  That  was  stated  by 
Mr.  Miller  and  Mr.  Menocal  in  their  testimony.  I  would  like  to  refer 
to  Mr.  ]\renocal's  testimony  in  that  respect,  because  at  the  outset  I 
would  like  to  satisfy  the  members  of  the  connnittee  that  we  devoted 
our  best  efitbrts  to  learning  all  about  the  canal  route  that  it  was  possi- 
ble to  learn.  I  will  quote  from  his  testimony,  on  pages  58  and  59  of 
your  printed  record: 

Mr.  Mexocal.  They  arrived  in  Greytown  and  remained  a  week  waiting  for  a 
steamer  that  was  to  hring  certain  outtit  for  the  Commission.  Thoy  had  ordered  this 
outfit,  but  the  Commissiou  arrived  before  the  steamer  coutainiug  the  outfit  arrived, 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  101 

and  tliey  waited  a  week  for  it.     They  tlieu  went  up  tlie  river  and  had  to  transfer  in 
the  river  from  one  steamer  to  another  at  two  diflbrent  points. 

We  arrived  tliere  on  tlie  13th  of  May,  and  we  left  the  21st  to  go  up 
the  river.  The  day  after  our  arrival,  the  14th,  we  commenced  work  at 
once  and  made  an  insi^ectiou  of  the  harbor  and  breakwater,  also  of  the 
canal  as  far  as  excavated.  Mr.  Menocal  was  with  us.  The  following 
day,  the  15th,  we  inspected  the  buildings  belonging  to  the  company,  the 
shore  line  of  the  harbor  and  coast  to  the  eastward,  and  started  a  sur- 
veying party  to  work  snrveying.  On  the  Kith  we  went  (mt  over  the 
line  of  the  railway  and  inspected  it  to  a  point  11^  miles  distant,  bet\Yeen 
sites  of  Locks  Nos.  1  and  L'.  On  the  17th  we  inspected  the  west  shore  of 
the  coast  adjacent  to  the  harbor  as  far  as  the  Indio  Kiver.  On  the  18th 
we  inspected  the  Harbor  Head  Lagoon  adjacent.  We  inspected  the 
dredging  plant,  and  in  the  evening  made  an  itinerary.  The  19th,  I 
think,  was  Sunday,  but  was  employed  in  platting  of  surveys.  On  the 
20th  we  continued  our  surveys  and  made  cross  sections  of  the  canal  as 
it  has  been  excavated  by  the  company.  The  days  intervening  between 
our  arrival  and  the  day  we  left  we  are  not  given  credit  for.  We  do  not 
receive  credit  for  anytliing  done  during  that  time. 

These  statements  which  1  make  are  extracted  from  the  official  minutes 
of  the  board,  and  also  from  my  private  diary  which  I  carried  in  ray 
pocket,  and  which  states  what  the  board  did  each  day.  There  are  seven 
days  of  pretty  hard  work  done  in  the  initiative.  It  is  true  we  waited 
the  arrival  of  our  outfit,  but  we  did  this  work  at  the  harbor  and  vicinity, 
which  is  of  an  important  character.  Perhaps  no  part  of  the  plan  has 
excited  more  discussion  among  engineers  than  the  matter  of  the  possi- 
bility of  improving  and  maintaining  Greytown  Harbor.  We  made  an 
exhaustive  examination  of  that,  also  careful  surveys,  which,  as  we  think, 
throw  great  light  on  the  problem,  and  aided  us  in  arriving  at  a  conclu- 
sion as  to  its  imx)rovement. 

On  May  21  we  started  up  the  San  Juan  Eiver  by  steamer,  and  made 
such  observations  as  we  could  in  regard  to  the  physical  features  of  the 
river  and  country,  and  discussed  certain  features  of  possible  river  navi- 
gation. We  tied  up  overnight  near  the  San  Carlos  Eiver.  On  May 
22  we  continued  to  inspect  the  river  (which  from  here  on  is  part  of 
the  sailing  route)  to  Castillo,  and  made  observations  and  instrumental 
measurements  as  to  the  high  and  low  water  levels  of  the  San  Juan  River. 

It  has  been  stated  in  Mr.  Miller's  testimony  that  the  floods  rise  in  the 
San  Juan  Elver  1  to  6  feet,  but  we  found  at  the  site  of  the  Ochoa  Dam, 
where  we  made  observations  as  to  the  height  of  the  floods,  that  they 
rose  14i  feet  at  that  point  and  21  feet  at  Machuca.  We  stopped  over- 
night at  Castillo. 

On  the  23d  of  IMay  we  inspected  the  river  from  Castillo  to  Lake 
Nicaragua.  From  the  time  we  left  San  Carlos  Eiver  we  were  j^assing 
over  the  route  of  the  canal.  I  do  not  mean  necessarily  the  canal  as  it 
is  to  be  excavated,  but  it  was  part  of  the  sailing  line  of  the  canal — a 
very  important  portion  of  the  system. 

On  the  21th  of  May  we  examined  the  Eio  Frio,  a  river  which  empties 
into  the  lake  near  the  San  Juan  Eiver,  the  latter  receiving  a  jjortion  of 
the  waters  of  the  former  directly.  We  took  the  levels  of  the  high  and 
low  water  marks  at  this  point.  We  also  took  soundings  in  the  lake,  not 
only  as  to  the  depths,  but  as  to  the  character  of  the  material,  by  means 
of  sounding  rods,  and  found  its  consistency  with  a  view  of  determining 
the  proper  slope  of  the  sides  in  the  14  miles  which  are  to  be  excavated 
at  this  point. 

On  May  25  we  made  current  and  gauge  observations  of  the  San  Juan 


102  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

Eiver.  No  current  or  gauge  observations  had  been  made  by  the  canal 
company  at  that  point.  Some  had  been  made  many  years  ago  by  other 
parties. 

May  2G  we  gauged  the  outlet  of  the  lake  again,  and  sailed  for  San 
Jorge.  On  May  27  we  arrived  at  San  Jorge,  having  inspected  the 
western  iiart  of  the  sailing  route  on  the  lake  as  we  crossed. 

On  the  28th  we  visited  Managua,  incidentally  making  inquiries  about 
lake  levels. 

Mr.  Menocal  says  (continuing  with  May  23): 

They  then  came  to  the  lake  and  Avent  to  Fort  San  Carlos.  There  is  only  one 
steamer  on  the  lake,  and  when  they  arrived  it  was  not  there,  and  tlie  Commission 
had  to  stay  two  days  waiting  for  tlie  steamer.  In  those  three  days  they  made  a  trip 
np  the  river  running  south,  and  they  also  took  a  river  steamer  and  went  out  into  the 
iake  and  took  borings  and  soundings.  They  came  back  to  Fort  San  Carlos  and 
waited  for  the  river  steamer.  When  it  arrived  they  got  aboard  and  went  to  St. 
George,  on  the  other  side  of  the  lake,  where  they  landed  and  went  to  the  capitol  to 
visit  the  President.  Next  day,  in  the  evening,  tbey  arrived  atKivas,  3  miles  distant, 
and  there  they  stayed  two  or  three  days  hunting  horses  and  other  means  of  trans- 
portation to  go  over  the  line  of  the  canal.  On  the  morning  of  the  third  day  they 
left  Kivas  and  went  toward  the  Pacific  Coast  to  a  point  3  miles  from  P>rito  and  passed 
the  night.  Up  to  this  time  nothing  had  been  seen  of  the  canal.  On  the  following 
morning  thoy  went  to  Brito,  leaving  camp  about  7  o'clock  a.  m.  Arriving  at  Brito 
they  stayed  there,  and  the  gentlemen  had  time  to  take  baths  and  look  around  a  little. 
They  then  came  back  to  the  same  camp,  following  more  or  less  the  line  of  the  canal. 
The  other  days  were  spent  in  traveling. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Mr.  Menocal  stated  that  he  was  speaking  from 
memory  and  not  from  notes,  but  he  referred  us  to  his  written  statement 
as  being  certain  on  these  points. 

Mr.  Endicott.  1  was  not  aware  of  that,  but  I  am  anxious  to  show 
the  facts. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  He  said  he  was  making  this  statement  from  memory. 

Mr.  Endicott.  1  would  like  the  lU'ivilege  of  correcting  the  record  in 
this  respect.  He  states  that  up  to  that  date  nothing  had  been  seen  of 
the  canal  [reading  from  diary] : 

On  May  29,  and  the  morning  after  onr  arrival  in  Rivas,  we  inspected  the  canal 
route,  the  valley  of  the  Rio  Grande,  following  down  tlie  river,  striking  and  examin- 
ing the  line  at  various  points  and  the  site  of  the  La  Flor  Dam,  camping  3  miles  from 
Brito.  On  May  .30,  at  Uritn  Harbor  and  vicinity.  Here  we  studied  the  const  lines 
on  both  sides  of  the  mouth  of  the  Rio  Grande,  where  the  canal  is  to  strike  the  Pacific 
Ocean;  examined  into  the  geological  formations  and  points  bearing  upon  the  con- 
struction and  use  of  a  harbor  at  this  point.  We  rode  down  south  side  of  the  valley 
and  returned  on  north  side.  Examined  sites  of  Lock  No.  (3  and  tidal  basin  below 
Lock  No.  6,  returning  to  the  camp  we  had  left  in  the  morning. 

May  31,  examined  canal  line  to  Locks  4  and  5,  and  thence  to  La  Flor  Dam  site,  out- 
croppings,  borings,  etc.;  in  afternoon  "we  went  up  trails  through  the  valley  and 
visited  lock  site  in  excavation. 

June  1,  went  over  the  canal  lino  to  lake  shore  and  to  site  of  diversions  of  Rio 
Grande,  if  canal  is  built  in  excavation.     Examined  mouth  of  Lajas,  site  of  piers,  etc. 

June  2  (Sunday),  party  surveying  mouth  of  Lajas,  levels  of  lake.  June  3,  no  work. 
June  4,  no  work.  June  5,  on  lake,  inspected  harbor  under  lee  of  Ometepe,  taking 
soundings,  etc.  June  6,  returning  by  steamer;  no  work.  June  7,  arrived  at  San 
Carlos;  no  work  beyond  observations  and  views  of  approaches.  Juno  8,  on  river, 
San  Carlos  to  Castillo;  observed  the  navigation  from  hurricane  deck  and  high-water 
marks  on  the  border  of  the  river.  June  9,  from  Castillo  to  Ochoa,  observing  the 
navigation,  country  on  banks,  etc.;  at  Ochoa  at  11  a.  m.,  camping  at  site  of  Ochoa 
Dam;  inspected  1^  miles  of  canal  line  and  returned  over  the  ridge  line,  visiting  loca- 
tions of  numerous  borings.  .lune  10,  to  south  abutment  of  Ochoa  Dam,  on  opposite 
side  of  river,  and  followed  dam  and  San  Carlos  ridge  line  south  7  miles.  June  11, 
3  miles  further  on  San  Carlos  Ridge  (10  in  all),  and  then  to  river  San  Carlos,  and  back 
to  camp  in  canoes,  via  San  Carlos  and  San  Juan  rivers.  June  12,  left  Ochoa,  follow- 
ing embankment  line  and  canal  line;  inspected  locations  of  guard  g.ates,  cmbank- 
nieuts,  borings,  etc.,  and  camped  by  Danta  River.  June  13,  followed  canal  line,  neap 
Florida  Lagoon,  and  embankment  line  to  cam]i,  San  Francisco,  loft  bank.  June  14, 
San  Francisco  to  Chanchos,  walking  over  embankment  line  and  returning  to  camp 


NICARAGUA    CANAL,  103 

hy  river;  in  the  afternoon,  np  San  Francisco  and  landed,  and  walked  bade  over  canal 
line;  inspected  locations  of  cuts  and  other  works  in  vicinity,  and  gauged  streams — 
San  Francisco  and  Nicholson. 

June  15,  took  canoes  to  Chanclios,  and  thence  followed  embanknieut  line  to  Camp 
Carmen  on  Limpio,  about  5  miles;  in  the  afternoon  back  over  canal  line.  June  16, 
left  Camp  Carmen  by  canal  line,  and  on  to  Camp  Alice  on  Lindo,  2|  miles;  canal  in 
excavation  here  on.  Took  breakfast  at  Camp  Alice.  Up  Deseado,  2  miles,  to  exam- 
ine geological  formations  and  matter  of  possible  diversions.  June  17,  left  Camp 
Alice,  crossed  Divide,  following  canal  line  closely,  examined  site  of  Ueseado  Dam, 
and  Lock  No.  .3  to  south  of  it.  June  18,  on  to  Camp  Menocal,  over  canal  line.  Left 
this  camp  at  noon;  inspected  sites  of  Lock  No.  2  and  dams,  and  reached  Camp  No.  7 
.it  2  p.  m.  Thence  to  site  of  Lock  No.  3  and  dam  site,  and  thence  by  railroad  to  Grey- 
town.  June  19,  took  steamer  to  inspect  Colorado  mouth  of  the  San  Juan  River,  bar, 
etc.  .Tune  20.  examined  and  surveyed  mouth  of  Colorado,  and  returning  sketched  the 
river  to  junction  with  San  .Tuan.  June  21,  sent  surveying  party  off  to  Serapiqui 
River;  no  work.  June  22,  lagoon  and  shore-line  surveys," etc.,  completed.  June  23, 
getting  ready  to  leave.  June  21,  sailed  for  Port  Limon.  Davis  spent  nine  days 
after  June  22  in  surveys  about  Serapiqui. 

My  record  sliows  that  we  spent  forty  two  days  iu  Nicaragua,  and  of 
that  time  thirty-four  were  spent  in  an  examination  of  the  physical  fea- 
tures of  the  canal  route.  This  is  actual  held  work.  I  wish  to  say  that 
we  fully  realized  the  importance  of  the  duty  imposed  upon  us;  that  it 
was  a  question  of  interest,  not  only  to  this  country,  but  to  the  whole 
world.  We  felt  that  we  had  been  highly  honored  by  the  President  in 
being  selected  for  this  duty,  and  we  went  down  to  Nicaragua  with  the 
determination  to  see  all  and  to  learn  all  we  could  about  the  canal  route; 
to  study  the  matter  carefully,  and  to  give  our  best  judgment  in  regard 
to  it. 

Mr.  Stewart.  Did  you  start  out  with  any  preconceived  notions  as 
to  the  feasibility  of  the  canal?  Did  you  have  any  personal  oj)inion 
about  it? 

Mr.  Endicott.  No,  sir;  I  did  not.  When  we  departed  from  the 
country  a  surveying  party  was  left  there  to  make  some  surveys  and  to 
look  into  the  matter  of  a  site  for  a  low  dam  on  the  San  Juan  Eiver  below 
Ochoa.  That  party  spent  nine  days  there  after  we  left  for  Panama, 
and  that  time  added  to  the  other  would  make  forty-three  days  of  field- 
work  instead  of  fourteen  or  fifteen,  as  credited.  The  time  spent  in 
Costa  Rica  and  Panama  was  also  very  important.  We  learned  a  great 
many  things  about  the  cost  of  labor  and  about  the  influence  of  the 
rains  and  the  climate  upou  the  work  which  had  been  done  in  building 
the  Panama  Canal  and  the  Costa  Rica  railway. 

Mr.  Stewart.  Are  not  the  climatic  conditions  different  in  Panama 
from  what  they  are  in  Grey  town? 

Mr.  Endicott.  There  is  some  difference.  The  climate  is  more  favor- 
able in  Nicaragua.  There  was  very  little  sickness  in  connection  with 
the  work  on  the  Nicaragua  Canal;  but  I  expect  when  they  get  into  the 
hills  and  expose  the  clay  banks  the  conditions  will  probably  be  very 
different.  We  found  that  in  Costa  Rica  and  Panama  parties  experi- 
enced very  little  difficulty  until  they  struck  the  actual  work  of  con- 
struction, when  sickness  began. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Is  it  not  a  fact  that  that  is  always  the  case  when 
virgin  soil  is  being  removed? 

Mr.  Endicott.  Yes,  sir;  that  is  generally  true. 

Mr.  Stewart.  The  plan  is  favored  by  you,  but  your  objection  is  the 
cost  and  the  unhealthiness  of  the  employment? 

Mr.  Endicott.  We  differ  as  to  cost,  but  I  think  the  plan  is  not 
feasible  in  its  present  shape.     It  is  not  practicable. 

Mr.  Stewart.  Could  it  be  made  so  if  it  were  modified  ? 

Mr.  Endicott.  Oh,  yes 3  I  am  fully  satisfied  the  canal  can  be  built. 


104  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Is  it  not  a  mere  matter  of  working-  out  the  details? 

Mr.  Endicott.  It  is  a  matter  of  working  out  the  details,  of  course. 
There  are  some  important  things  underlying  it  in  which  I  think  the 
company  is  not  quite  right. 

Several  Members.  Tell  us  what  those  things  are. 

Mr.  Endicott.  Their  scheme  jirovides  for  an  interoceanic  canal  28 
feet  deep.  The  present  scheme  will  give  only  24  feet  for  a  large  x)or- 
tion  of  the  year,  because  it  is  founded  upon  the  supposition  of  a  slope 
of  4  feet  in  the  river  from  the  lake  to  Ochoa,  and  the  Ochoa  Dam,  San 
Francisco  and  San  Carlos  embankments,  etc.,  are  regulated  in  height 
for  a  water  surface  of  lOG  at  Ochoa,  and  110  at  the  lake;  and  the  ques- 
tion is  whether  they  can  maintain  the  lake  at  110  feet  above  sea  level. 
We  are  satisfied  from  our  investigation  and  calculations,  carefully 
made,  and  in  which  we  agree  that  the  work  on  the  San  Francisco 
embankments,  the  lockage,  Ochoa  Dam,  and  San  Carlos  Eiver  embank- 
ments must  all  be  raised  to  maintain  a  water  elevation  at  Ochoa  of 
110  feet  or  more.  If  not,  the  water  will  drop  to  the  level  of  106  feet  at 
the  lake  every  dry  season. 

Mr.  Stewart.  These  calculations  are  not  embraced  in  your  report? 

Mr.  Endicott.  The  formula  is  not. 

Mr.  Stewart.  Would  this  fall  from  28  to  24  feet  make  a  serious 
objection? 

Mr.  Endicott.  Yes,  sir;  I  think  so.  Yon  must  remember  that  a 
l)art  of  the  San  Juan  Elver  has  rock  bottom,  and  this  fall  would  give 
navigation  only  for  vessels  drawing  22  feet  or  less  of  water. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  What  is  the  depth  of  the  Suez  Canal? 

Mr.  Endicott.  It  was  originally  2G  feet.  It  has  now  been  deepened 
to  29^  feet. 

Mr"  Doolittle.  Was  it  26  feet  when  it  was  built? 

Mr.  Endicott.  I  think  so. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  What  is  the  depth  of  the  Manchester  Canal? 

Mr.  Endicott.  The  Manchester  Canal  is  20  feet. 

Mr.  Sherman.  On  page  58  of  Mr.  Meiiocal's  statement  he  says  the 
Suez  Canal  was  originally  22  feet  deep. 

Mr.  Endicott.  Possibly  it  was;  if  so,  it  has  been  enlarged  twice. 
The  Suez  Canal  was  designed  for  a  larger  cross  section  than  was 
originally  given  it.  It  was  found  that  its  cost  was  exceeding  the 
estimates  so  much  that  the  dimensions  were  reduced. 

Mr.  Bennett.  How  long  did  you  spend  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of 
the  Ochoa  Dam  ? 

Mr.  Endicott.  Two  days. 

Mr.  Bennett.  Do  you  consider  that  length  of  time  enough  to  make 
a  proper  investigation  and  enable  you  to  report  on  the  feasibility  of  a 
work  of  such  magnitude? 

Mr.  Endicott.  Yes,  sir;  unless  we  had  gone  into  extensive  surveys 
or  borings.  We  had  not  time  or  money  for  that.  So  far  as  observing 
the  site,  the  time  was  sufficient. 

Mr.  Patterson.  In  the  judgment  of  the  Commission,  this  canal  is 
practicable? 

Mr.  Endicott.  The  canal  is  practicable. 

Mr.  Patterson.  And  when  constructed  it  would  answer  all  the  pur- 
poses of  commerce  which  have  been  attributed  to  it  by  its  friends? 

Mr.  Endicott.  I  think  so. 

Mr.  Stewart.  Do  you  agree  with  the  New  York  Tlerald  that  it 
would  be  a  feature  of  weakness  in  our  military  or  naval  status  if  we 
should  build  the  Nicaragua  Canal? 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  105 

Ml'.  Endicott.  I  think  in  case  of  war  with  a  country  like  Great 
ik'itaiu  Ave  niij>iit  have  to  blow  np  the  locks  and  abandon  it.  I  do  not 
think  we  could  hold  it  against  Great  Britain. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  If  we  had  strength  equal  to  theirs  we  could. 

Mr.  Endicott.  I  am  speaking  of  the  present  time. 

Mr.  Stewart.  We  are  strengthening  our  naval  force? 

Mr.  Endicott.  Yes. 

Mr.  Patterson.  You  say  the  Nicaragua  Canal  is  practicable,  and 
when  constructed  it  will  answer  all  the  purposes  which  have  been 
attributed  to  it  by  its  friends.  At  what  cost,  in  the  judgment  of  your 
Commission,  can  this  work  be  done? 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  I  would  suggest  "  in  accordance  with  the  plans  of 
Mr.  Menocal." 

Mr.  Patterson.  No;  I  want  his  own  idea. 

Mr.  Endicott.  The  actual  construction  will  cost  $133,000,000,  not 
iucluding  the  interest  on  the  money  during  construction. 

Mr.  Patterson.  You  think  that  with  $133,000,000  this  Government 
could  construct  the  Nicaragua  Canal,  and  give  a  depth  of  28  feet, 
which  would  answer  all  purposes  of  commerce? 

Mr.  Endicott.  I  think  it  would  give  a  depth  of  30  feet. 

Mr.  Bennett.  Thirty  feet  of  navigable  water? 

Mr.  Endicott.  A  depth  of  30  feet  of  water. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Do  you  think  that  when  this  canal  is  constructed 
there  will  be  any  difficulties  in  the  way  of  navigation?  Do  you  think 
that  large  ships  could  go  through  that  without  difficulty? 

Mr.  Endicott.  If  built  as  recommended  by  the  Board,  I  think  they 
could. 

Mr.  Patterson.  What  do  you  mean? 

Mr.  Endicott.  We  have  recommended  the  widening  of  the  prism  in 
the  lake.  We  think  there  ought  to  bo  250  feet  width  in  the  river,  while 
the  canal  company  contemplates  only  125.  We  think  that  is  not 
enough  for  the  river,  because  it  is  much  more  difficult  to  navigate  a 
channel  of  a  given  width  in  an  open  expanse  of  water  than  between 
banks,  and  in  the  upper  San  Juan  the  excavated  channel  will  have 
rocky  bottom  and  sides. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Would  you  advise  the  United  States  to  undertake 
at  once,  with  the  necessary  modifications  of  the  Menocal  plan,  to  con- 
struct this  canal? 

Mr.  Endicott.  If  the  Government  is  going  into  the  matter  of  the 
building  of  a  canal  I  would  advise  it. 

Mr.  Patterson.  If  the  Government  is  going  into  the  construction 
of  a  canal,  you  would  advise  us  to  construct  it  with  the  modifications 
which  you  propose? 

Mr.  Corliss.  Do  you  think  it  is  advisable  to  go  into  the  construction 
of  a  canal? 

Mr.  Endicott.  I  think  this  Government  ought  to  have  a  waterway 
between  the  Atlantic  and  the  Pacific. 

Mr.  Corliss.  From  what  point  of  view? 

Mr.  Endicott.  I  think  it  is  important  from  a  military  point  of  view. 

Mr.  Corliss.  Is  there  any  other  point  which  you  think  is  as  desirable 
or  advantageous  as  the  Nicaragua  site? 

Mr.  Endicott.  I  can  not  say  that  I  know  of  any  other.  One  might 
be  found  at  greater  cost,  perhaps.  I  think,  in  some  respects,  the 
Tehuantepec  route  is  an  ideal  one,  but  there  may  be  some  difficulties 
of  an  engineering  character  to  render  it  very  costly.  From  a  strategic 
point  of  view  it  is  the  better  of  the  two,  as  it  could  be  more  easily 
defended.    It  would  also  be  a  shorter  route  for  our  commerce. 


106  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Do  yon  think  from  the  mere  fact  that  the  excava- 
tion is  through  rock  that  tliere  wonld  be  present  any  serious  obstacles 
to  the  navigation  of  this  canal  at  oO  feet! 

Mr.  Endicott.  Not  if  it  is  built  of  the  proper  width. 

Mr.  Patterson.  It  has  been  argued  here  forcibly  and  earnestly  by 
at  least  one  gentleman  that  this  canal,  being  excavated  through  rock, 
it  would  be  practically  impossible  to  navigate  it  with  large  steamers. 
He  said  that  the  canal  at  Manchester  is  not  used  by  large  steamers ; 
that  it  is  impracticable  to  do  so,  and  we  might  find  that  this  canal 
could  not  be  used  for  the  i)urposes  of  commerce,  as  contemplated  by  its 
friends.    What  is  your  judgment  in  regard  to  tliaf? 

Mr.  Endicott.  I  think  it  could  be  used  for  the  purposes  of  com- 
merce. 

Mr.  Patterson.  You  know  of  no  physical  difficulties  in  the  way? 

Mr.  Endicott.  No,  sir. 

Mr.  Patterson.  You  have  compared  the  Nicaragua  Oanal  with  the 
Panama  route.  Is  it  not  a  fact  that  there  is  less  rainfall  than  in 
Panama? 

Mr.  Endicott.  Not  on  the  east  coast. 

Mr.  Patterson.  It  is  on  the  west  coast? 

Mr.  Endicott.  In  the  interior, 

Mr.  Patterson.  Is  it  not  true  thnt  at  Panama  on  either  side  there 
is  such  a  calm  as  would  prevent  sailing  vessels  from  using  that  route, 
whereas  at  Nicaragua  the  trade  winds  prevail,  and  it  could  be  used 
both  by  sailing  and  steam  vessels'? 

Mr.  Endicott.  I  think  so.  Nicaragua  is  more  favorable  in  that 
respect  than  Panama  for  sailing  vessels. 

Mr.  Patterson.  And  notwithstanding  the  Nicaragua  Canal  would 
cost  $133,000,000,  according  to  your  plan,  you  believe  ibhat,  even  at  that 
expenditure,  it  would  be  the  best  and  cheapest  for  the  Gl»vernment  to 
adopt? 

Mr.  Endicott.  That  is  my  personal  impression.  I  do  not  know  what 
it  would  cost  to  complete  tlie  Panama  Canal.  They  claim  it  can  be 
done  for  $100,000,000,  I  do  not  know  whether  that  is  true  or  not.  We 
have  not  looked  into  that.  I  think  the  advantages  at  Nicaragua  are 
considerable,  and  such  as  might  outweigh  the  question  of  the  cost. 

The  Chairman.  What  is  the  present  condition  of  the  work  that 
has  been  done  by  the  company  as  you  observed  it  at  Grey  town — for 
instance,  the  harbor  works? 

IVIr.  Endicott.  Tlie  harbor  works  are  in  pretty  bad  condition.  The 
navigation  which  they  once  had  there  is  lost  by  reason  of  the  entrance 
being  destroyed.  The  pier  is  in  bad  condition,  and  is  decayed  and 
worm-eaten. 

The  Chairman.  Is  anything  remaining  of  the  work  of  present  value 
to  this  enterprise? 

Mr.  Endicott.  Not  much.    The  pier  I  do  not  consider  of  any  value. 

The  Chairman.  Would  not  the  work  thus  far  done  have  to  be 
removed,  in  order  to  give  ])lace  to  that  sufficient  work  that  you  recom- 
mend under  your  plan? 

Mr.  Endicott.  A  considerable  part  of  it  would.  Under  our  plan 
the  entrance  and  a  good  deal  of  the  work  would  be  abandoned.  They 
have  a  short  section  of  canal  about  a  mile  long,  excavated  about  IG  feet 
or  more,  and  a  portion  not  quite  so  dee]>.  This  stands  in  good  condition. 
That,  I  think,  cost  less  than  $100,000.  They  have  some  buildings,  a 
hospital  and  otfice,  and  they  have  some  dwellings  and  some  plant,  but 
the  i)lant  is  in  bad  shaj)e.     I  do  not  think  there  is  much  else  of  value. 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  107 

Th3  Chairman.  As  an  engineer,  at  what  would  you  estimate  tlie 
present  value  of  all  the  work  done  on  that  enterprise? 

Mr.  Endicott.  Speaking  roughly,  I  should  say  half  a  million  dollars. 

The  Chairman.  Did  you  examine  the  working  plant  owned  by  the 
company? 

Mr.  Endicott.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  Of  what  does  it  consist? 

Mr.  Endicott.  It  consists  of  five  dredges  which  they  bought  from 
the  Panama  Canal  Company.  They  are  sunk  in  the  harbor,  and  are  in 
a  dilapidated  condition.  Some  of  the  machinery  might  be  used,  but 
the  woodwork  is  about  worthless  at  the  present  time.  There  has  been 
considerable  imi^rovement  in  machinery,  which  renders  this  obsolete  in 
a  large  job  of  this  kind.  The  tugboats  and  scows  ar^  l)adly  rusted  and 
decayed.  They  have  two  or  three  locomotives  in  lair  condition,  and 
they  have  11^  miles  of  railroad. 

The  Chairman.  In  your  estimate  of  $500,000  do  you  include  the 
railroad  and  telepraph  line  and  the  locomotives? 

Mr.  Endicott.  Yes,  sir;  the  locomotives  are  not  worth  much.  Of 
course,  I  am  speaking  roughly. 

The  Chairman.  At  what  would  you  regard  the  present  value  of  the 
five  dredges? 

Mr.  Endicott.  I  do  not  think  they  are  worth  over  $150,000 — prob- 
ably not  worth  that. 

The  Chairman.  If  you  had  a  contract  to  dredge  out  that  harbor  and 
the  canal,  where  dredging  is  possible,  would  you,  as  an  engineer,  use 
those  dredges  there,  in  view  of  the  improved  implements  of  that  char- 
acter which  are  now  obtainable? 

Mr.  Endicott.  I  think  not,  for  so  expensive  a  job.  I  think  it  would 
pay  to  abandon  them  and  purchase  more  improved  machinery. 

Mr.  Stewart  (to  the  chairman).  I  think  it  would  probably  be  better 
to  give  the  value  of  the  work  at  the  time  it  was  completed,  because  it 
would  be  unfair  that  the  company  should  have  that  cost  estimated  when 
it  is  in  a  degenerate  condition,  as  it  now  stands,  because  the  plant  has 
done  considerable  work. 

The  Chairman.  Yet  the  Government,  if  it  is  to  become  the  pur- 
chaser, should  know  what  it  is  going  to  get. 

Mr-i  Patterson.  I  understand  Mr.  Stewart  to  mean  that  the  plant 
has  accomplished  a  certain  amount  of  work,  and  we  can  not  estimate 
the  value  of  the  plant  as  it  stands  to-day. 

Mr.  Endicott.  Do  you  mean  the  value  of  the  plant  when  work  was 
stopped  ? 

Mr.  Patterson.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Endicott.  Eunning  the  matter  rapidly  through  my  mind,  I 
should  say  it  was  probably  worth  $1,250,000. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  Does  that  include  all  the  surveys  which  were  run 
there? 

Mr.  Endicott.  No;  it  does  not  include  the  cost  of  the  surveys. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  Do  you  know  how  many  miles  of  line  were  run  by 
the  surveyors? 

Mr.  Endicott.  I  have  heard  they  ran  something  like  three  or  fonr 
thousand  miles. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  From  your  knowledge  of  the  country  down  there 
and  the  character  of  work,  what  would  you  say  was  the  valne  of  that? 

Mr.  Endicott.  Probably  half  a  million  dollars.  It  costs  a  great 
deal  to  make  surveys  extending  over  a  long  term  in  that  country. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Assuming  that  the  changes  which  you  have  in  con- 


108  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

templatiou  are  not  made,  eoiild  the  canal,  as  contemplated  by  its  pro- 
moters and  as  outlined  by  Mr.  Menocal,  be  constructed  within  the 
limitation  of  $65,000,000? 

Mr.  Endicott.  I  think  not. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Then  you  think  that  the  chanfces  which  yon  have 
indicated  in  the  report  of  the  commission  would  amount  to  the  dilfer- 
ence  between  105,000,000  and  $133,000,000! 

Mr.  Endicott.  No,  sir. 

Mr.  Patterson.  What  do  you  estimate  the  cost  of  the  chanj^es  which 
you  have  snogested? 

Mr.  Endicott.  I  would  like  to  refer  you  to  Mr.  Noble  as  to  that,  in 
order  to  show  where  the  increased  cost  is.  He  has  prepared  tables 
showing  just  where  the  increases  are,  and  can  give  it  to  you  more 
quickly  and  accurately  than  1  can.  For  instance,  the  increase  due  to 
errors  in  the  computations  of  the  canal  company  would  amount  to  about 
$4,000,000  at  their  own  prices. 

Mr.  Patterson.  You  have  no  estimate  of  it? 

Mr.  Endicott.  1  have  none.  The  report  we  made  would  show  it  if 
it  was  worked  out.     Mr.  Noble  has  gone  through  that. 

Mr.  Patterson.  You  say  there  were  errors  in  the  calculations  as 
submitted  to  you? 

Mr.  Endicott.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  Of  what  did  they  consist? 

Mr.  Endicott.  They  made  a  mistake  of  a  million  cubic  yards  in  the 
rock  excavation  in  the  San  Juan  River.  This  amounts  to  $5,000,000 
increase  in  the  estimates.  They  have  reduced  the  price  of  rock  exca- 
vation in  the  river  from  $5  to  $3  in  their  last  estimates,  making  an 
increase  of  $3,000,000,  according  to  their  own  price.  Then  they  niade 
an  error  of  about  one  million  cubic  yards  in  the  dredging  in  earth  in 
the  San  Juan  River,  and  an  error  of  about  half  a  million  cubic  yards 
of  dredging  in  the  lake,  which  amount  to  about  $4,000,000  at  the  canal 
company's  prices. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  The  amount  of  material  to  be  removed  was  not 
given  as  it  should  be? 

Mr.  Endicott.  They  made  some  error. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  More  than  they  made  allowance  for? 

Mr.  Endicott.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Bennett.  Do  you  believe,  even  after  your  superficial  examina- 
tion, that  this  investigation  was  close  enough  to  enable  you  to  estimate 
the  cost  of  the  work  for  the  whole  canal? 

Mr.  Endtcot']'.  Approximately.  There  can  not  be  any  exact  esti- 
mate, because  I  think  that  the  examinations  and  surveys  of  the  canal 
company  have  not  been  exhaustive  enough  to  make  a  close  estimate. 
That  is  one  reason  why  we  recommended  additional  surveys. 

Mr.  Bennett.  It  might  cost  some  less? 

Mr.  Endicott.  It  might  cost  some  less,  and  it  might  cost  some  more. 

Mr.  Bennett.  Mr.  Menocal  insists  that  $70,000,000  would  complete 
it.     Do  you  think  that  is  true,  according  to  Mr.  Menocal's  plan? 

Mr.  Endicott.  I  think  not. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  You  would  not  be  willing,  upon  your  professional 
reputation,  to  state  that  it  could  not  be  built  for  that? 

Mr.  Endicott.  I  do  not  think  it  could  be  built  for  that. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  Would  you  be  willing  to  stake  your  professional 
reputation  on  the  assertion  that  ic  could  not  be  built  for  that? 

Mr.  Stewart.  He  says  that  the  examination  was  not  exhaustive 
enough  to  enable  him  to  give  an  opiuion. 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  109 

Mr.  Endicott.  I  can  not  say  at  this  moment  what  part  of  the 
increase  in  estimates  was  due  to  increase  in  quantities,  in  prices,  or  to 
chauges;  an  analysis  of  our  report  will  show  all  that. 

Mr.  Ellett.  Did  you  make  an  estimate  of  the  cost  of  the  canal  under 
Mr.  Menocal's  plans"? 

Mr.  Endicott.  I  do  not  think  that  we  stated  it  separately  in  the 
report,  but  our  report  shows  it  in  figures.  It  would  show  the  difference 
of  the  cost  of  the  canal  by  his  plans,  and  by  our  plans,  at  our  prices,  if 
analyzed.  I  think  Mr.  Noble  can  give  that  to  you.  The  time  was  so 
short  that  we  divided  up  the  work. 

The  Chairman.  Who  is  F.  W.  Bennett? 

Mr.  Endicott.  There  is  a  Mr.  Bennett  in  the  employ  of  the  Nicaragua 
Canal  Company.     I  think  he  was  assistant  engineer. 

The  Chairman.  Was  your  Conmiission  referred  to  Mr.  Bennett  by 
Mr.  Hitchcock  for  estimates  of  the  cost  of  the  construction  of  the  canal? 

Mr.  Endicott.  I  think  that  we  were  referred  to  Mr.  Menocal,  and  Mr. 
Bennett  was  in  charge  of  the  papers  in  the  New  York  office. 

The  Chairman.  Did  he  write  your  Commission  a  letter  dated  August 
29,  1895,  in  which  he  gives  a  statement  of  the  cost  of  the  construction 
of  the  canal"? 

Mr.  Endicott.  We  have  a  statement  of  cost,  but  whether  it  is  from 
Mr.  Bennett  or  Mr.  Menocal  I  do  not  remember.  I  thijik  it  was  from 
Mr.  Menocal. 

The  Chairman.  Referring  to  this  paper  received  from  your  Commis- 
sion, I  find  this  statement:  11.5  miles  of  railroad,  costing  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  $372,000;  rolling  stock,  $62,000;  727,000  cubic  yards  of 
dredging,  $80,000;  937  lineal  feet  of  pier,  $200,000;  jetties,  $174,000; 
06  miles  of  telegraph  line,  $19,000.  What  other  items  of  construction 
did  you  find  down  there,  if  any  ?  And  if  there  are  any  other,  give  us  the 
cost,  approximately,  exclusive  of  these  1  have  read. 

Mr.  Endicott.  I  think  that  covers  the  actual  construction. 

The  Chairman.  What  about  buildings? 

Mr.  Endicott.  There  are  buildings,  office,  etc. 

The  Chairman.  What  are  tliey  worth,  approximately? 

Mr.  Endicott.  It  would  be  difficult  for  me  to  state  what  they  are 
worth;  probably  $100,000. 

The  Chairman.  What  other  property  did  you  find  there,  exclusive 
of  the  dredges  that  you  have  spoken  of? 

Mr.  Endicott.  I  think  that  was  about  all.  There  were  two  or  three 
locomotives,  but  I  do  not  think  there  was  anything  else. 

The  Chairman.  At  what  did  you  estimate  the  engineering  work? 

Mr.  Endicott.  Koughly,  half  a  million  dollars. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Suppose  this  question  was  put  to  you:  Assuming 
that  the  Government  of  the  United  States  greatly  desires  the  construc- 
tion of  an  interoccanic  canal,  and  that  it  was  willing  to  pay  as  much  as 
$133,000,000  for  a  canal  30  feet  deep,  sufficient  to  float  vessels  drawing 
28  feet  of  water,  and  supposing  that  the  Government  wanted  a  canal 
that  would  be  large  enough  to  answer  all  the  purposes  of  commerce, 
would  you  advise  the  Congress  of  the  United  States — assuming  all 
that — to  pass  a  bill  for  the  construction  of  this  canal? 

Mr.  Endicott.  At  once? 

Mr.  Patterson.  Yes. 

Mr.  Endicott.  Well,  sir,  I  should  not. 

Mr.  Stewart.  Why? 

Mr.  Endicott.  I  think  it  would  be  wise  to  delay  sufficiently  to  make 
more  surveys,  and  examine  the  field  more  in  detail,  with  a  view  to  the 
construction  of  a  canal. 


110  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Could  that  not  be  done  later,  after  the  bill  was 
passed  ? 

Mr.  Endicott.  It  might  be  modified,  of  coiirse. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Is  j^our  i)lau  predicated  upou  the  appreheusiou 
that  the  cost  would  exceed  $133,000,000? 

Mr.  Endicott.  It  might  exceed  that,  and  it  might  not. 

Mr.  Stewart.  Is  that  the  only  objection  to  the  prosecution  of  the 
work  at  once? 

Mr.  Endicott.  It  might  be  one  objection. 

Mr.  Patterson.  From  your  knowledge  of  the  conditions,  with  the 
information  now  in  possession  of  the  Government,  and  assuming  that 
the  Government  was  willing  to  pay  $133,000,000,  you  think  the  cost  of 
the  canal  might  exceed  that  sum? 

Mr.  Endicott.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Stewart.  And  yet  you  are  an  enthusiast  for  the  canal? 

Mr.  Endicott.  Yes,  sir;  I  think  we  ought  to  have  a  canal.  I  think 
there  is  time  to  make  surveys.  We  do  not  say  that  the  surveys  should 
be  made  by  the  Government.  They  can  be  made  by  the  Government, 
or  by  private  parties.  We  simply  say  that  an  examinatiou  should  be 
made. 

Mr.  Patterson.  How  long  would  it  take? 

Mr.  Endicott.  It  should  cover  a  x)eriod  of  eighteen  months,  so  as  to 
take  in  two  dry  seasons. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Have  you  an  apprehension,  if  such  surveys  were 
made,  that  it  might  demonstrate  the  impracticability  of  constructing 
this  canal? 

Mr.  Endicott.  Impracticability?    No,  sir;  I  do  not  fear  that. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Do  you  fear  that  it  might  demonstrate  the  necessity 
of  spending  more  money  than  $133,000,000? 

Mr.  Endicott.  Yes,  sir.  The  matter  of  the  lake  levels  affects  the 
whole  scheme.  The  height  of  the  Ochoa  Dam,  and  of  the  embankments 
on  the  San  Erancisco  and  San  Carlos  ridge  lines,  and  of  the  lockage, 
to  keep  the  lake  up  to  110,  and  the  means  of  limiting  its  tluctuatious 
all  depend  upon  hydraulic  data  which  we  think  is  not  sufficiently  at 
hand.  We  do  not  think  the  project  ought  to  be  entered  upon  without 
exhausting  that  field  and  others. 

Mr.  Stewart.  Has  any  member  of  this  Commission  had  any  expe- 
rience in  canal  building? 

Mr.  Endicott.  Mr.  Noble  has  had  experience  in  the  Sault  Ste.  Marie 
locks.  Whether  he  has  large  canal  exi)erience  I  am  not  advised.  He 
has  had  a  good  deal  of  experience. 

Mr.  Stewart.  Is  not  the  reputation  of  Mr.  Menocal  high? 

Mr.  Endicott.  Yes;  but  he  has  had  no  experience  except  on  this 
canal — no  experience  in  canal  construction. 

Mr.  Stewart.  Mr.  Menocal  has  had  large  experience  in  canal  surveys  ? 

Mr.  Endicott.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Have  you  ever  examined  the  Manchester  Canal  or 
the  Suez  Canal? 

Mr.  Endicott.  No,  sir. 

Mr.  Patterson.  You  have  had  uo  practical  experience  in  the  con- 
struction of  canals? 

Mr.  Endicott.  No,  sir;  I  have  simply  seen  the  canals  in  this  country. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  Will  you  state  how  long  Mr.  Menocal  was  engaged 
in  this  work  in  Nicaragua? 

Mr.  Endicott.  He  first  became  connected  with  it  about  lS72or  1873. 
Mr.  Menocal  was  associated  with  Commander  Lull,  and  he  has  been 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  Ill 

engaged  on  these  surveys  since — I  do  not  know  how  long  in  the 
aggregate. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Do  j'Ou  regard  Mr.  Meuocal  as  competent? 

Mr.  Endicott.  I  think  he  is  an  engineer  of  ability. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  If  you  had  been  engaged  in  tliis  work  during  the 
time  he  has  been,  would  you  feel  entirely  competent  to  make  a  correct 
statement  as  to  the  practicability* and  the  feasibility  of  this  work,  and 
the  cost  of  it? 

Mr.  Endicott.  I  think  so. 

The  Chairman.  What  other  important  work  of  similar  character, 
aside  from  this  canal,  has  Mr.  Menocal  ever  been  engaged  upon? 

Mr.  Endicott.  I  do  not  know  of  any  other  of  similar  character.  I 
think  he  accompanied  one  of  the  expeditious  which  made  surveys  across 
the  Isthmus  of  Panama. 

Mr.  Bennett.  In  what  year? 

Mr.  Endicott.  It  was  subsequent  to  the  Lull  surveys — about  1875. 

Mr.  Stev^^art.  Has  he  not  examined  the  Manchester  Canal  and 
canals  in  India? 

Mr.  Endicott.  I  do  not  think  he  examined  those  in  India. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Has  he  not  examined  the  Manchester  Canal,  the 
Keil  Canal,  and  the  Corinth  Canal? 

Mr.  Endicott.  I  think  he  has  examined  the  Keil  and  the  Manchester 
canals,  but  I  do  not  think  he  has  examined  the  Corinth  Canal. 

Mr.  Wanger.  Have  you  considered  the  question  of  a  ship  railway 
across  the  Isthmus  of  Tehauntepec? 

Mr.  Endicott.  Not  seriously. 

Mr.  Wanger.  Have  you  considered  it  sufficiently  to  express  an  opin- 
ion respecting  the  practicability  of  it  ? 

Mr.  Endicott.  I  would  not  like  to  express  an  unqualified  opinion 
upon  that.  I  am  of  the  opinion  that  one  can  be  built,  and  probably  it 
would  only  be  a  question  of  cost. 

The  Chairman.  Can  it  be  operated  practically? 

Mr.  Endicott.  I  think  so.  I  think  it  is  possible  to  take  a  ship  up 
bodily  and  transport  it  safely,  provided  you  take  the  necessary  i^re- 
cautions. 

Mr.  Wanger.  Of  the  two  propositions,  a. ship  railway  and  a  canal, 
which  do  you  think  is  the  more  practicable? 

Mr.  Endicott.  I  think  a  canal  is  safer  for  the  transportation  of  ves- 
sels.    A  vessel  is  never  so  easily  borne  as  when  water  borne. 

Mr.  Bennett.  That  is  correct. 

Mr.  Patterson.  In  making  the  estimate  of  $133,000,000,  did  you  take 
into  consideration  all  the  contingencies  that  occurred  to  the  minds  of 
the  Commission  at  the  time? 

Mr.  Endicott.  Yes. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Did  you  make  any  allowance  for  unknown  contin- 
gencies ? 

Mr.  Endicott.  We  added  20  per  cent  for  that,  the  same  as  the  canal 
people  did. 

Mr.  Patterson.  And  you  have  an  apprehension  that  the  cost  may 
exceed  $133,000,000? 

Mr.  Endicott.  It  may,  if  the  lake  can  not  be  maintained  at  110. 

Mr.  Patterson.  I  want  to  get  the  state  of  your  mind  on  that  ques- 
tion.   Which  do  you  mean — probably  or  possibly? 

Mr.  Endicott.  I  think  it  is  probable.  I  think  it  may  be  impossible 
to  maintain  the  lake  at  110,  and  if  so,  there  will  be  deeper  excavations 
in  tlie  lake  and  in  the  San  Juan  Eiver.  There  is  very  considerable 
rock  there,  and  that  means  a  large  iuQreased  cost. 


112  NICARAGUA    CANAL- 

Mr.  Patterson.  What  would  the  possible  or  probable  increased  cost 
amoiiut  to?    Have  you  any  idea  of  that? 

Mr.  Endicott.  IsTo,  sirj  probably  twelve  or  fifteen  million  dollars. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Then,  do  you  think  1150,000,000  would  cover  all 
possible  contingencies'? 

Mr.  Endicott.  I  think  it  would  cover  all  engineering  contingen- 
cies. • 

Mr.  Patterson.  Would  the  engineering  contingencies  include  every- 
thing'? 

Mr.  Endicott.  I  am  speaking  from  an  engineer's  standpoint.  I  do 
not  consider  the  interest  on  the  money  during  the  process  of  construc- 
tion. 

Mr.  Patterson.  You  think  an  outlay  of  1150,000,000  would  give  the 
United  States  this  canal,  as  you  contemplate'? 

Mr.  Endicott.  1  think  so. 

Mr.  Wanger.  In  your  report  you  recommend  an  extension  of  the 
Grey  town  Harbor  eastward,  do  you  not"? 

Mr.  Endicott.  Yes,  sir;  to  the  eastward. 

Mr.  Wanger.  What  are  the  particular  advantages  of  thaf? 

Mr.  Endicott.  Old  surveys  and  examinations  show  that  Greytown 
Harbor  was  originally  a  bight  in  the  coast  line.  There  was  no  channel 
or  bar.  Originally  it  was  a  broad,  open  roadstead,  and  the  liistory  of 
it  shows  that  it  gradually  closed  until  it  made  Greytown  Harbor  a  lagoon. 
A  commission  of  distinguished  gentlemen  who  examined  into  it  under  the 
National  Academy  of  Sciences  in  18G6  were  the  first,  so  far  as  I  know, 
who  found  out  the  true  causes  of  the  destruction  of  the  Greytown  Har- 
bor. They  found  the  discharge  of  the  San  Juan  Eiver  had  little  to  do 
with  it.  The  cause  of  it  was  drifting  sands  which  filled  up  the  harbor, 
and  they  were  the  persons  who  suggested  jetties  to  arrest  that  sand 
and  delay  the  progress  of  the  destruction  ol^  the  harbor.  They  say  that 
it  would  not  restore  it,  and  that  the  only  hope  rests  upon  the  possi- 
bility of  maintaining  a  navigable  outlet,  and  that  dredging  must  be 
resorted  to  or  the  harbor  will  be,  at  no  distant  day,  destroyed. 

The  shore  line  is  being  cut  and  filled  in,  and  that  means  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  bight.  It  is  only  a  question  of  time.  I  believe  that  the  con- 
struction of  a  jetty  is  the  proper  method  of  improving  the  harbor, 
but  that  it  should  be  moved  eastward  where  the  end  will  reach  deep 
water,  with  very  much  less  length,  and  where  the  conditions  are  now 
much  more  nearly  stable.  A  much  shorter  pier  will  here  reach  a  point 
"where  a  line  stretching  from  the  end  of  jetty  at  rigiit  angles  to  the  direc- 
tion of  the  wind  and  the  waves  will  approximate  the  direction  of  the 
east  shore  line.  I  think  this  bight  is  going  to  fill  up,  but  that  the  jetty 
will  arrest  it  materially.  The  progress  of  the  filling  in  of  the  harbor 
will  be  slower,  and  the  harbor  will  be  more  nearly  permanent  and  main- 
tained at  less  cost. 

Mr.  Bennett.  And  it  would  be  of  much  more  benefit  to  the  canal'? 

Mr.  Endicott.  The  whole  expense  will  be  less.  It  will  be  economy 
in  the  end. 

Mr.  Patterson.  In  making  an  estimate  of  $150,000,000,  do  you 
include  a  good  harbor  at  Greytown? 

Mr.  Endicott.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Patterson.  All  that  is  in  the  estimate! 

Mr.  Endicott.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Stewart.  1  move  that  the  committee  take  a  recess  until  2 
o'clock. 

The  motion  was  agreed  to. 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  li-> 

AFTERNOON  SESSION. 

STATEMENT  OF  MR.  M.  T.  ENDICOTT— Continued. 

The  Chairman.  Mr.  Endicott,  we  have  not  a  quorum  here,  but  there 
are  seven  members  of  the  committee  present,  probably  as  many  as  we 
will  have  this  afternoon,  if  you  desire  to  proceed. 

Mr.  Endicott.  Well,  Mr.  Chairman,  I  do  not  know  that  it  is  neces- 
sary for  me  to  take  up  the  time  of  the  committee  any  further. 

The  Chairman.  I  will  interrui)t  you  to  say  we  occupied  all  of  your 
time  this  morning  with  queries.  Now,  if  you  have  anything  further 
you  wish  to  state,  we  will  be  pleased  to  hear  yon. 

Mr.  Endicott.  I  have  simply  a  few  rough  notes  of  some  statements 
I  wanted  to  make,  called  out  by  some  testimony  presented,  but  I  am 
informed  I  can  submit  that  in  a  written  statement  and  have  it  entered 
in  the  record,  and  as  that  will  be  sufficient,  I  will  not  take  up  the  time 
of  the  committee.    That  is  entirely  satisfactory  to  me. 

The  Chairman.  There  are  one  or  two  matters,  I  think,  I  wanted  to 
ask  you  about.  During  your  remarks  to-day  you  spoke  of  20  dams  in 
the  river.    Explain  that  matter,  if  you  please. 

Mr.  Endicott.  I  think  I  referred  to  those  on  the  San  Carlos  ridge. 
They  are  sometimes  spoken  of  as  embankments  and  sometimes  as  dams. 
They  dam  up  the  water  and  form  a  portion  of  the  eastern  boundary  of 
these  great  basins.    There  are  25  of  those  instead  of  20. 

TLe  Chairman.  Will  you  not  exi)lain  the  general  features  of  this 
canal,  of  what  the  work  consists'?  There  is  a  map  before  you.  For 
instance,  a  part  of  it  is  simply  excavation  through  alluvial  soil.  Explain 
that  and  point  it  out  on  the  map,  as  I  would  like  to  get  a  correct  idea 
of  what  there  is  before  the  constructors. 

Mr.  Endicott.  Well,  this  is  the  eastern  terminus  of  the  canal  at 
Greytown  and  the  harbor  is  shown  here  [illustrating].  This  solid  red 
line  shows  the  canal  and  excavation  up  to  this  dam,  9.3  miles. 

Mr.  Patterson.  That  is  all  through  alluvial  land? 

Mr.  Endicott.  Yes. 

The  Chairman.  Now,  is  the  railroad  coterminous  with  it? 

Mr.  Endicott.  Yes,  sir.  This  black  line  is  the  railroad,  and  from 
here  on,  that  is  what  is  called  the  embankment  line,  the  line  on  which 
the  dams  are  built  to  retain  the  water  to  the  height  necessary.  From 
that  point  on  there  is  a  lock,  and  here  is  a  lock,  and  here  is  a  lock,  and 
those  three  locks  with  the  dams  are  designed  to  raise  the  water  up  to 
the  height  of  106  feet  above  the  sea. 

The  Chairman.  What  will  be  the  lift  of  those  three  locks? 

Mr.  Endicott.  It  will  be  a  total  of  100  feet;  one  will  be  40  feet, 
another  will  be  35  feet,  and  another  31  feet.  Then  in  here  are  the  dams 
adjoining  the  locks  to  retain  the  water  in  these  cuts  and  basins.  At 
this  point  will  be  navigation  through  what  is  called  the  Deseado  Basin, 
ibrmed  by  means  of  these  dams. 

The  Chairman.  What  will  be  the  height  of  these  dams? 

Mr.  Endicott.  The  dams  in  here  are  comparatively  small  and 

The  Chairman.  Just  about  what? 

Mr.  Endicott.  Well,  they  may  be  25  to  35  feet  in  height,  and  up 
here  they  would  probably  be  50  feet  in  height. 

The  Chairman.  Of  what  will  they  be  composed? 

Mr.  Endicott.  Of  clay.  There  will  be  two  or  three  dams  of  con- 
crete. The  present  project  of  the  company  is  to  build  two  or  three  of 
concrete. 

N  c 8 


114  NICARAGUA   CANAL. 

The  Chairman.  What  is  the  total  length  of  those  dams 

Mr.  Endicott.  I  do  uot  recollect  at  this  niomeut.  The  total  length 
of  the  banks  in  this  basin  would  aggregate  about  G  miles. 

The  Chairman.  Can  you  apin-oximate  it  in  the  other  basinf 

Mr.  Endicott.  Probably  1  or  2  miles  in  this  stretch. 

The  CHAIR3IAN.  What  will  they  rest  on — what  kind  of  foundation'? 

Mr.  Endicott.  They  will  rest  upon  clay.  Some  of  them  occur  in 
places  where  the  surface  of  the  soil  now  is  quite  soft — mud  and  marshy 
— and  that  will  be  excavated  until  they  get  to  good  bottom — hard,  stiff 
clay,  and  they  will  start  the  embankments  from  there. 

The  Chairman.  Will  the  material  excavated  make  these  dams? 

Mr.  Endicott.  Some  portion;  yes,  sir.  But  I  think  most  of  that 
excavation  will  be  quite  soft  and  will  be  perhaps  discarded. 

The  Chairman.  Where  will  that  material  be  obtained? 

Mr.  Endicott.  There  is  plenty  of  it  from  the  cuts  and  in  the  hills 
adjoining  here.  Then  they  approach  the  east  divide.  This  is  a  cut 
which  is  a  trifle  short  of  3  miles  in  length.  That  dotted  red  line  shows 
the  navigation  through  the  divide.  That  navigation  is,  of  course, 
between  rocky  banks.  The  canal  here  will  be  104)  feet  in  width,  and 
about  3  miles  long.  That  carries  the  canal  into  what  is  called  the  San 
Francisco  Basin,  stretching  from  that  point  down  to  the  Ochoa  Dam, 
and  it  is  in  that  stretch  where  there  are  a  great  many  large  dams — I 
think  they  number  about  08,  with  a  total  length  on  the  crest  of  about 
6  miles.  I  think  the  heaviest  dam  there  will  be  a  trifle  over  100  feet 
high — probably  70  feet  high  from  the  surface  of  the  ground;  but  some 
of  them  will  cross  over  muddj-,  marshy  places,  which  will  have  to  be 
excavated  20  or  30  feet  in  order  to  get  a  good  foundation;  so,  starting 
from  there,  the  heights  will  vary  up  to  about  100  feet  and  over. 

Mr.  Fletcher.  AVhat  will  the  dam  be  constructed  of? 

Mr.  Endicott.  Clay. 

Mr.  Fletcher.  And  it  will  be  100  feet  high,  say? 

Mr.  Endicott.  Tes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  What  will  be  the  width  of  that  on  the  crest? 

Mr.  Endicott.  That  varies  according  to  the  height. 

The  Chairman.  The  one  you  speak  of  as  100  feet? 

Mr.  Endicott.  What  will  be  the  width  of  that?  1  think  it  is  about 
20  feet,  about  that. 

The  Chairman.  What  will  be  the  width  at  the  base? 

Mr.  Endicott.  About  COO  feet  wide  at  the  base. 

The  Chairman.  Will  any  portion  of  thatbe  constructed  under  water? 

Mr.  Endicott.  They  will  have  to  exclude  the  water.  They  will  have 
to  dam  the  water  back  by  means  of  cribs,  sheet  piling,  etc.,  and  then 
pump  out  the  water. 

The  Chairman.  Is  that  contemidated  in  their  plan? 

Mr.  Endicott.  Yes,  sir;  I  think  so.  I  so  understand  it  that  their 
estimates  provide  for  that  work. 

The  Chairman.  Where  are  the  stone  dams  to  be  constructed? 

Mr.  Stewart.  Or  breakwaters? 

Mr.  Endicott.  A  part  of  the  breakwater  will  be  built  of  stone,  but 
there  is  no  masonry  dam  in  this  entire  scheme.  Some  that  I  spoke  of 
would  be  built  of  concrete,  and  that  is  sometimes  spoken  of  as  masonry. 

Mr.  Stewart.  All  breakwaters  are  contemplated  to  be  built  of  stone 
thrown  in? 

Mr.  Endicott.  Yes,  sir ;  loose  stone  thrown  in.  There  \^ill  be  a  great 
deal  of  rough  stone  in  the  Ochoa  Dam,  also,  according  to  the  plans, 

Mr.  Patterson.  What  do  you  think  of  that  plan? 


NICARAGUA    CAIJAL.  115 

Mr.  Endicott.  The  Oclioa  Dam? 

Mr.  Patterson.  Yes. 

Mr.  Endicott.  I  think  it  can  be  built  succe  ssfiilly  as  a  rock-fill  dam 
after  a  proj^er  method  and  design. 

The  Chairman.  Will  you  describe  it? 

Mr.  Endicott.  Provided  it  is  not  used  as  a  weir,  I  do  not  think  any 
water  should  be  allowed  to  flow  over  the  top  of  it. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  That  is  not  contemplated  now? 

Mr.  Endicott.  I  think  so. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE,  Is  it  not  true,  according  to  the  modified  plans,  the 
water  escape  is  throu<j:h  weirs  farther  down  ? 

Mr,  Endicott.  Well,  the  company,  since  we  commenced  to  make  up 
our  report  in  IS  ew  York,  have  included  in  the  estimates  provision  for  two 
sluices  in  the  San  Carlos  embankment,  and  that  will  control  a  small 
portion  of  the  water  during  the  construction  of  this  dam,  and,  with  the 
weirs  above,  a  considerable  portion  after  construction,  but  I  understand 
from  their  latest  report,  and  Mr.  Menocal's  testimony  which  was  printed 
yesterday,  that  they  still  adhere  to  using  the  Ochoa  Dam  as  a  weir. 

The  CHAII13IAN.  Will  you  describe  that  dam? 

Mr.  Endicott.  The  dam  is  to  span  the  San  Juan  about  this  point 
(indicating  on  map),  about  1,900  feet  in  length,  including  abutments, 
and  it  will  be  about  61  feet  high  to  crest  line  from  mean  river  bottom. 
Borings  have  been  made  there  of  the  bed  of  the  river  to  the  depth  of 
20  to  24  feet,  and  they  have  not  found  any  rock;  it  is  black  volcanic 
sand.  Their  proposition  is  to  dam  the  river  with  broken  stones  of  large 
size,  thrown  in  at  random,  and  allow  the  currents  and  floods  of  the 
river  to  flow  over  it  and  spread  out  the  material  on  some  slope. 

Mr.  Stewart.  What  is  the  difference  between  a  dam  and  a  break- 
water ? 

Mr.  Endicott.  Well,  a  dam  is  built  for  the  purpose  of  impounding 
water  and  to  hold  it  at  a  higher  level,  as  in  a  basin ;  whereas  a  break- 
Avater  is  built  to  protect  vessels,  or  an  entrance  to  a  harbor,  from  waves 
and  the  action  of  the  sea,  and  in  this  case  here  (i)ointing  to  Greytown 
Harbor)  to  also  prevent  the  sand  drifting  into  the  mouth  of  the  harbor. 
That  does  not  dam  up  the  water,  or  exclude  the  water  on  any  side, 
whereas  this  dam  is  built  to  impound  and  back  up  the  water  above 
that  point. 

The  canal  company's  ju-oposition  is  to  carry  the  dam  uj)  to  the  height 
of  103J  or  lOlfeet  above  the  level  of  the  sea  in  that  maimer,  and  their 
expectation  is  it  will  have  a  slope  of  about  one  in  five — that  is,  for 
every  foot  in  height  it  will  have  a  length  of  5  feet  on  the  downstream 
side.  On  the  upstream  side  they  propose  to  fill  in  with  smaller  stone, 
earth,  and  clay,  and  make  it  as  nearly  water-tight  as  possible.  It  is 
expected,  further,  that  as  this  material  is  thrown  into  the  river  the  stones 
will  confine  the  current  somewhat,  and  there  will  result  a  scouring 
between  and  under  these  rocks,  driving  out  the  sand  from  underneath 
and  allowing  the  heavy  stones  to  sink  down.  Probably  they  may  carry 
the  foundation  down  as  much  as  15  or  20  feet  by  that  means  below  the 
surface  of  the  river.  That,  in  brief,  is  what  is  called  a  rock-filled  dam 
as  distinguished  from  an  earthen  dam  and  a  masonry  dam. 

The  Chairman.  It  is  expected  to  raise  the  water  from  there  up  to 
the  lake,  a  height  of  110  feet? 

Mr.  Endicott.  Yes,  sir;  they  begin  and  raise  it  106  feet  here,  and 
expecting  110  feet  at  the  lake.  That  dam,  together  with  the  San 
Francisco  and  San  Carlos  embankments,  impounds  this  water 

The  Chairman.  What  is  the  height  of  the  base  of  that  dam  above 
sea  level  I 


116  NICARAGUA   CANAL. 

Mr.  Endicott.  The  base  of  the  dam,  if  that  is  carried  down  to  the 
depth  of  15  feet,  will  be  about  25  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  pro- 
viding' it  scours  out  15  feet.  The  present  surface  of  the  river  bottom 
there  is  about  40  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea.  These  are  mean 
elevations. 

The  Chairman.  What  is  the  distance  by  the  river  from  that  ijoint 
to  the  sea  approximately? 

Mr.  Endicott.  About  50  miles. 

The  Chairman.  And  it  has  a  fall  of  something  over  a  foot  to  the 
mile? 

Mr.  Endicott.  Yes,  sir;  about  that.  The  dams  to  which  I  referred 
in  my  testimony  this  morning  were  these  on  the  San  Carlos  ridge.  As 
the  water  is  raised  to  the  height  proposed  it  backs  up  along  the  San 
Carlos  ridge  for  about  12  miles,  within  which  there  are  depressions 
which  must  be  closed  by  embankments. 

The  Chairman.  What  is  the  San  Carlos'? 

Mr.  Endicott.  That  is  the  river  coming  right  in  here  [illustrating]. 
This  map  does  not  show  much  of  it. 

The  Chairman.  What  is  the  character  of  these  dams? 

Mr.  Endicott.  Well,  sir,  they  are  to  be  of  the  same  general  char- 
acter as  those  of  the  San  Francisco  Basin,  built  of  clay.  They  are 
small  dams;  only  a  few  are  of  considerable  size,  probably  40  or  50  feet 
high. 

Mr.  Stewart.  How  are  these  weirs  built,  and  what  are  the  purposes 
of  the  weirs? 

Mr.  Endicott.  Here  is  where  tbere  will  be  one  on  top  of  this  ridge 
for  discharging  the  surplus  Avaters  of  the  basin.  It  is  of  concrete  or 
masonry,  so  as  to  prevent  cutting  down  or  eroding,  and  destroying  the 
ridge.  For  instance,  if  that  represented  the  top  of  the  ridge  [illus- 
trating], they  would  cut  down  3  or  4  or  more  feet  and  put  in  concrete 
sides  and  base,  and  paving  above  and  below  for  a  certain  distance  so 
that  the  water  rising  above  this  point  the  surplus  would  spill  over  that 
weir.  These  are  intended,  with  the  weir  of  the  Ochoa  Dam  and  with 
certain  other  weirs  here,  to  keep  the  water  down  during  floods  [illus- 
trating]. Then  there  will  be  clear  navigation  from  that  point  [indicat- 
ing] down  to  and  through  the  divide  and  up  through  the  San  Francisco 
Basin  to  Ochoa,  and  on  to  the  lake;  G4i  miles,  they  say  it  is,  from  Ochoa 
to  the  lake,  but  according  to  our  investigations  it  is  about  61)  miles, 
which  adds  about  4  miles  to  the  length  of  the  route;  that  increase  is 
in  the  river.  The  total  distance  has  been  called  109  and  some  tenths, 
but  it  is  174  miles. 

Mr.  DooLTTTLE.  So  the  canalization  has  been  j^roperly  given? 

Mr.  Endicott.  The  canalization  cuts,  etc.,  but  the  discrepancy  was 
in  the  river  navigation.     I  do  not  think  it  will  affect  the  estimates. 

The  Chairman.  From  the  Ochoa  dam  up  to  the  lake  the  navigation 
is  provided  for  by  the  dam  ? 

Mr.  Endicott.  Yes,  sir;  well,  the  river  is  deepened,  and  considera- 
ble rock  and  earth  will  have  to  be  taken  out  to  make  it  deep  enough. 
Below  here  [indicating]  there  is  plenty  of  water;  raising  the  water 
here  gives  such  a  depth  in  this  portion  of  the  San  Juan  that  it  is  not 
necessary  to  dredge  any. 

The  Chairman.  What  is  the  area  that  will  be  overflowed  by  raising 
the  water  to  that  height? 

Mr.  Endicott.  Well,  sir,  that  lias  never  been  determined  exactly. 
Thoy  simply  define  the  lines  here  [indicntiiig  ll:o  embankment  lines], 
and  have  not  attempted  to  trace  out  the  distance  over  which  it  will 


NICARAGUA   CANAL 


117 


overflow.  It  will  be  quite  extensive,  but  the  land  is  clieap  and  costs 
nothing. 

The  Chairman.  When  you  get  farther  up  to  those  greenish  tints, 
does  that  represent  alluvial  soil? 

Mr.  Endicott.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  What  are  the  banks  of  the  river  there,  high  or 
low — the  natural  banks'? 

]\[r.  Endicott.  They  are  rather  low. 

Tlie  Chairman.  Will  there  be  large  areas  overflowed  there? 

Mr.  Endicott.  Yes,  sir;  there  will  be  considerable  overflow  therein 
some  places,  where  it  will  spread  out  quite  a  distance  on  either  side. 
There  has  been  no  instrumental  survey  to  determine  how  far  up  that 
will  go. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Will  it  not  lift  the  water  up  over  that  light  color 
tlicre  around  the  lake  [referring  to  color  of  map]? 

Mr.  Endicott.  Not  just  at  that  point,  because  when  we  get  up  here 
the  land  is  high  and  it  will  not  submerge  it,  but  as  we  go  toward  the 
sea  the  land  falls,  and  there  will  be  considerable  land  on  each  side 
of  the  river  which  will  be  overflowed  farther  downstream ;  but  I  under- 
stand that  is  no  objection,  as  there  is  no  valnable  land  there. 

The  Chairman.  What  is  the  character  of  the  vegetation  of  those 
greenish  tints? 

Mr.  Endicott.  Well,  there  is  a  tropical  growth. 

The  Chairman.  Is  it  timber? 

Mr.  Endicott.  Yes,  sir;  and  just  the  ordinary  tropical,  vegetation. 

The  Chairman.  When  you  reach  the  lake,  what  are  the  difficulties 
then  of  navigation? 

Mr.  Endicott.  Well,  sir,  at  present,  here  [indicating]  the  lake  is 
insufiicient  for  the  navigation  proposed,  and  it  is  necessary  to  dredge 
out  in  the  lake  about  a  distance  of  14  miles. 

The  Chairman.  What  is  the  present  depth  of  water  along  that 
dotted  line  in  the  lake? 

Mr.  Patterson.  The  14-mile  stretch  ? 

Mr.  Endicott.  When  you  get  out  here,  the  depth  is  about  30  feet. 
This  is  where  the  cut  runs  out  [indicating].  Beyond  that  there  is  plenty 
plenty  of  water. 

The  Chairman.  What  is  the  de])th  of  the  water  at  the  outlet  of  the 
lake? 

Mr.  Endicott.  It  varies  with  the  height  of  the  lake.  I  think  when 
we  were  there  it  was  about  11  feet  there,  and  a  little  less  out  there — I 
think  7  feet  out  there  [indicating]. 

The  Chairman.  What  is  the  height  of  the  surface  of  the  sea,  102 
feet? 

Mr.  Endicott.  About  101.8  feet  when  we  were  there. 

The  Chairman.  Is  there  a  variation  of  8  or  10  feet  in  the  surface  of 
the  water  of  that  lake  in  height  above  the  sea? 

Mr.  Endicott.  Yes,  sir;  there  is  a  variation  there,  an  extreme  vari- 
ation of  high  water  and  extreme  low  water  of  about  14  feet. 

The  Chairman.  What  is  the  extreme  height? 

Mr.  Endicott.  I  think  a  little  over  110  feet. 

Mr.  Stewart.  Would  the  building  of  that  canal  improve  the  soil 
and  vegetation  by  drainage,  etc. — the  climate  and  vegetation  both? 

Mr.  Endicott.  I  think  not,  up  here. 

Mr.  Stewart.  It  will  below? 

Mr.  Endicott.  It  has  already  improved  this  country  down  here. 
These  lands  here  [indicating]  on  the  east  coast  are  drained  and  in 


118  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

better  condition  than  before.    Kow  the  sailing*  distance  across  the  lake 
is  abont  50^  miles. 

The  Chairman.  What  is  the  character  of  the  soil  here  on  the  bottom 
of  the  lake 1 

Mr.  Endicott.  It  is  exceedingly  soft  mud,  as  we  fonnd  from  our  own 
investigations.  We  went  out  in  a  steamer  and  took  soundings  for 
depth,  and  with  poles  and  rods,  in  order  to  test  the  consistency  of  the 
bottom,  and  found  it  was  very  soft. 

The  Chairman.  What  would  be  the  difficulty,  if  any,  in  maintaining 
the  depth  of  water  in  the  channel'? 

Mr.  Endicott.  After  it  is  once  made,  with  a  good  wide  slope,  I  do  not 
think  there  will  be  any  further  trouble.  I  think  the  deposit  will  be 
very  slow,  and  the  expense  of  dredging  it  out  will  be  inconsiderable. 
There  is  nothing  there  to  create  much  deposit,  and  what  is  there  is 
probably  the  accumulation  of  centuries. 

The  Chairman.  Is  there  any  rock  in  the  way  in  the  lake? 

Mr.  Endicott.  No,  sir ;  not  on  this  side. 

The  Chairman.  Now,  from  the  other  side? 

Mr.  Endicott.  You  see  the  portion  in  solid  red;  it  is  in  excavation. 
About  a  mile  of  that  first  stretch  of  red  is  called  the  western  divide. 
The  rise  there  to  it  is  very  gradual  and  the  fall  from  it  very  gradual. 
Then  we  pass  into  what  is  called  the  Tola  Basin.  A  dam  is  to  be  con- 
structed here  [indicating]  which  dams  up  the  waters  of  the  Kio  Grande, 
to  fill  what  is  called  the  Tola  Basin.  That  makes  continuous  navigation 
between  the  lock  from  this  point  here  over  to  Lock  No.  3  beyond  the 
eastern  divide. 

The  Chairman.  What  is  the  height  of  that  dam? 

Mr.  Endicott.  That  is  a  pretty  high  dam.  It  will  be  about  170 
feet  in  height,  probably  more,  dependent  upon  how  deep  they  make  the 
foundation.  The  explorations  are  not  satisfactory,  and  tliere  have  been 
no  indications  of  rock  foundation,  and  the  distance  they  will  have  to  go 
to  get  a  foundation  will  be  very  great,  which  makes  it  a  very  high  dam. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  You  mean  the  height  above  the  surface? 

Mr.  Endicott.  No;  I  refer  to  the  total  height. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  But  above  the  surface  what  will  be  the  height  of 
the  earth? 

Mr.  Endicott.  I  think  it  is  70  feet. 

The  Chairman.  What  will  that  be  composed  of? 

Mr.  Endicott.  The  proposition  was  to  make  that  a  rock-filled  dam 
also.  I  believe  the  company  have  abandoned  that  project  also,  and 
perhaps  they  will  build  one  of  earth,  with  a  concrete  or  masonry  core»or 
center;  but  they  have  not  quite  decided  whether  to  build  that  dam  or 
abandon  it.  They  have  not  abandoned  the  idea  of  building  the  dam 
yet,  but  the  board  believes  the  danger  of  such  a  dam  so  great  that  it  is 
not  feasible. 

Mr.  Patterson.  If  they  do  not  build  a  dam,  how  will  they  carry  the 
canal? 

Mr.  Endicott.  Carry  the  canal  in  excavation.  It  takes  about  5 
miles  of  excavation. 

The  Chairman.  After  passing  from  that  point  toward  Brito,  what 
have  you  there  ? 

Mr.  Endicott.  Then  there  are  three  locks  down  to  the  level  of  the 
sea.  Here  is  a  short  line  of  excavation  of  1.0  miles,  and  here  is  a  lock, 
and  here  is  a  lock,  and  here  is  Brito. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  I  would  like  you  to  s<tate  about  these  locks.  The 
number  of  locks,  according  to  Mr.  Menocal's  jdans,  are  three  on  the 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  110 

Atlantic  end  of  the  canal,  and  the  height  of  them  yon  stated.  Now, 
there  have  been  statements  made  relative  to  a  greater  number  of  locks. 
I  would  like  to  have  your  opinion  stated  to  the  committee  here  as  to 
the  feasibility  of  locks  of  the  height  mentioned. 

Mr.  Endicott.  I  think  it  is  possible  to  build  locks  of  the  height  the 
company  proposes,  but  it  is  a  very  great  height.  It  makes  an  immense 
mass  of  concrete  and  makes  a  very  heavy  weight  on  the  clay  founda- 
tion, and  I  do  not  think  there  is  any  necessity  for  limiting  the  number 
to  three.  I  think  they  will  get  just  as  good  results  by  four  locks,  and 
it  will  be  more  conservative  as  to  weight  on  the  foundations,  and  the 
gates  will  be  smaller  and  more  easily  handled,  and  it  will  not  delay 
navigation. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  You  do  not  regard  it  as  not  being  feasible  to  erect 
locks  according  to  those  plans'? 

Mr.  Endicott.  No,  sir;  not  as  to  lifts. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  In  reference  to  material  used  in  these  dams — clay 
material — would  you  regard  that  as  proper  material  by  your  own 
investigation  ? 

Mr.  Endicott.  Yes;  clay  is  good  material. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  It  is  a  question  of  putting  in  sufficient  material'? 

Mr.  Endicott.  Yes,  and  laying  it  properly.  There  is  some  danger 
from  clay  dams.  For  instance,  if  the  Ochoa  Dam  should  go  out  there  is 
always  danger  of  those  great  dams  of  the  San  Erancisco  sliding  away, 
sloughing  away  on  the  sudden  fall  of  water.  When  the  water  is  high 
they  are  charged  with  water  but  held,  but  when  the  water  on  the  front 
which  jiresses  against  them  is  suddenly  lowered  they  frequently  slide 
down.  That  is  simply  one  of  the  dangers  of  the  long  system.  In  case 
the  Ochoa  Dam  should  go  out  there  is  this  apprehension,  and  that  is 
one  of  the  several  reasons  I  think  the  Ochoa  Dam  should  be  built  almost 
without  regard  to  expense. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  About  what  length  of  time  would  be  consumed  in 
making  the  rock-fllled  dam  at  Ochoa  from  the  rock  cut"?  In  other 
words,  the  time  would  cover  seasons  of  high  and  low  water,  would  it 
not? 

Mr.  Endicott.  Yes. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Is  not  that  fact  much  in  favor  of  the  rock-filled  dam 
on  that  plan  of  building;  that  is,  building  it  both  at  high  and  low  water? 

Mr.  Endicott.  It  can  be  built  quickly  in  that  way;  yes, 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Does  it  not  insure  a  better  dam  if  it  is  constructed 
during  the  seasons  of  flood  and  low  water,  knowing  the  action  of  the 
water  under  those  circumstances'? 

Mr.  Endicott.  If  you  could  exclude  the  water  entirely,  you  could 
construct  a  dam  just  exactly  as  you  want  it,  doing  the  work  very  well, 
consolidating  it  through  the  disposition  of  material  to  the  best  advan- 
tage for  the  proper  slope,  and  packing  the  material  in  by  hand.  That 
can  not  be  done  with  water  flowing  over  it.  The  case  recited  by  Mr. 
Menocal  in  his  testimony,  of  those  dams  in  India  I  will  say  are  built 
in  the  dry  and  paved  with  very  heavy  blocks  of  stone  on  top,  and  set 
on  edge  generally,  too;  and  they  intersect  the  slope  with  transverse 
masonry  walls  at  intervals  of  30  or  40  feet,  and  build  the  slopes  at  an 
angle  of  1  foot  to  20;  that  is,  1  foot  of  height  to  20  feet  of  length. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Is  that  the  case  of  all  dams  in  India  of  that  char- 
acter*? 

Mr.  Endicott.  Nearly  all  of  them  are  built  in  that  way. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Is  it  not  simply  a  question  of  putting  a  sufficient 
amount  of  material  in  there  at  Ochoa  of  the  rock  and  the  clay  and  the 


120  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

silt  that  is  carried  by  the  stream,  and  that  in  that  manner  will  be  formed 
a  barrier  like  any  barrier  of  nature  against  the  force  of  water? 

Mr.  Endicott.  I  think  so.  That  is  my  opinion.  Built  of  proper 
proportions,  and  in  a  proper  method. 

The  Chairman.  Something  has  been  said  here  about  the  peril  of 
using  canal  excavations  through  rock,  the  peril  of  jagged  rocks  on  the 
edges  to  iron  or  steel  vessels.  Do  you  regard  a  canal  of  that  character 
and  of  that  length  as  suggesting  any  impediment  in  that  respect? 

Mr.  Endicott.  No,  sir.  The  width  of  the  cut  can  be  made  ample 
for  it  and  then  there  is  no  trouble.  If  it  is  exceedingly  narrow  there 
is  danger  of  the  ship  striking  the  sides  and  having  her  own  sides 
injured. 

The  Chairman.  It  will  not  be  necessary  to  line  the  canal  with  tim- 
bers and  concrete  at  such  points? 

Mr.  Endicott.  For  instance,  if  the  width  of  the  cut  were  80  feet, 
as  originally  proposed  by  the  company,  and  you  wanted  to  take  through 
it  the  man-of-war  loica,  which  has  a  width  of  72  feet  3  inches,  it  would 
not  be  sufficient  to  take  her  through,  unless  the  sides  of  the  canal  were 
protected  by  fenders.  It  would  be  extremely  difficult;  but  if  it  is  120 
feet  wide  there  would  be  no  trouble.  It  is  only  a  matter  of  making  it 
of  sufficient  width. 

The  Chairman.  It  is  a  question  of  steering  the  ship? 

Mr.  Endicott.  Yes,  sir;  of  steering  tlie  ship.  Before  leaving  the 
matter  of  the  Ochoa  Dam,  I  mean  that  it  is  all  right,  provided  you  do 
not  use  it  as  a  weir.  I  do  not  approve  of  using  it  as  a  weir,  as  I  think 
that  invites  disaster. 

Mr.  Wanger.  But  if  it  were  a  masonry  dam  it  could  be  used  as  a 
weir? 

Mr.  Endicott.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Even  then  you  do  not  think  it  will  be  best  to  use  it 
as  a  weir  if  it  has  a  sound  foundation? 

Mr.  Endicott.  If  it  has  a  good  foundation  it  is  all  right.  There  is 
danger  of  an  extraordinary  high  flood  coming  down  and  cutting  a  rock- 
filled  dam  down  from  the  top,  and  when  it  once  starts  the  whole  thing 
maj  go. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  If  it  is  put  in  in  high  water  and  low  water  the  dan- 
ger of  that  will  not  be  so  great? 

Mr.  Endicott.  If  it  were  completed  during  a  flood  of  one  year,  for 
instance  when  they  had  to  handle,  say  60,000  or  70,000  cubic  feet  of 
water  per  second,  and  the  materials  had  been  deposited,  arranged,  and 
sloped  by  a  flow  of  corresponding  thickness  and  velocity,  perhaps  the 
next  season  you  might  have  a  flood  of  150,000  cubic  feet  per  second, 
which  would  rearrange  all  these  materials  and  cause  a  settlement  or 
opening  which,  once  started,  would  wreck  the  dam. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  I  want  to  ask  you  about  the  modern  methods  in 
use  of  taking  out  rock 

Mr.  NooNAN.  Have  you  had  experience  of  dams  made  of  filled  rock? 

Mr.  Endicott.  I  have  never  built  any. 

Mr.  NooNAN.  Have  you  seen  those  where  the  waters  have  overflowed 
the  dam? 

Mr.  Endicott.  Of  masonry  I  have,  but  not  of  rock  fill. 

Mr.  NooNAN.  I  want  to  ask  you  as  an  expert,  when  the  water  passes 
over  the  top  of  an  erection  of  that  sort  does  it  not  wash  it  away  and 
cut  it  out? 

Mr.  Endicott.  Yes ;  it  is  almost  certain  to  destroy  it  if  the  water  goes 
over  the  top. 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  121 

Mr.  NooNAN.  So,  then,  it  is  a  prerequisite  i]i  managing  a  thing  of  that 
sort  to  erect  it  so  high  that  it  shall  not  overiiow? 

Mr.  Enuicott.  It  is  undoubtedly,  in  a  dam  of  that  kind. 

Mr.  Ellett.  As  I  understand,  there  has  been  a  great  deal  of  ques- 
tion here  by  engineers  as  to  the  practicability  of  building  this  Ochoa 
Dam,  and  I  understand  you  to  say  in  your  opinion  it  is  absolutely  prac- 
tical to  build  a  stone-iilled  dam  at  Ochoa? 

Mr.  Endicott.  I  think  it  can  be  built;  yes,  sir, 

Mr.  Ellett.  You  say  it  is  possible  or  probable  it  may  wash  away? 

Mr.  Endicott.  That  is  a  risk  or  danger  which  I  think  ought  not  to 
be  taken  on  a  dam  of  that  kind,  which  affects  so  great  an  extent  of 
territory  and  so  many  valuable  works. 

Mr.  Ellett.  What  I  want  to  know  is  if  you  think  it  possible  or  prob- 
able this  stone-filled  dam,  on  account  of  the  character  of  the  founda- 
tion, may  wash  away? 

Mr.  Endicott.  Well,  I  think  it  is  possible;  and  if  they  use  it  as  a 
weir  I  should  say  it  is  probable.  If  they  do  not  use  it  as  a  weir  they 
can  carry  it  to  such  proportions  that  it  will  stand  for  all  time,  probably, 
if  it  is  built  of  proper  dimensions  and  slopes. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  I  want  to  ask  you  about  the  removal  of  the  material 
in  the  rock  cut.  Do  we  not  with  modern  methods  use  channeling 
machines  for  cutting  down,  which  leave  the  surface  of  the  rocks  smooth? 
It  is  not  left  jagged,  but  is  left  smooth  on  each  side? 

Mr.  Endicott.  Yes,  that  can  be  left  in  good  shajie.  I  do  not  think 
there  is  any  trouble  at  all  about  navigating  the  rock  cut  by  a  ship, 
providing  it  is  wide  enough  of  course;  it  ought  to  be  of  a  good  width. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  You  were  asked  this  morning  whether  you  would 
advise  Congress  to  pass  legislation  that  would  eventually  secure  the 
construction  of  this  work — to  carry  on  this  enterprise  until  a  further 
examination  has  been  made.  Now,  what  would  you  say  in  answer  to 
this  question?  Would  you  not  advise  Congress  to  pass  the  necessary 
legislation  to  insure  the  completion  of  this  canal,  with  the  understand- 
ing, of  course,  that  the  engineers  of  the  Government  would  work  out 
all  these  details  before  the  construction  was  taken  up? 

Mr.  Endicott.  Yes ;  I  should  think  that  might  be  done. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  And  advantageously,  too,  would  you  not  think,  if 
the  enterprise  is  desirable  as  an  American  enterprise? 

Mr.  Endicott.  Yes;  simply  to  make  sure  that  the  investigations 
have  been  fully  exhausted,  and  the  plan  is  approved  by  the  Government. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  In  other  words,  do  you  not  believe  that  sufficient 
investigation  has  already  been  made  to  demonstrate  the  practicability 
and  desirability  of  the  I^icaragua  Canal  to  the  people  of  the  United 
States  and  to  the  world  at  large  by  this  time? 

Mr.  Endicott.  Yes;  I  think  so. 

Mr.  Fletcher.  Let  me  put  that  question  in  another  form:  Would 
you,  if  you  had  $150,000,000  of  your  own  that  you  were  going  to  expend, 
make  your  engineering  investigations  before  you  commenced  expending 
the  money,  or  would  you  go  on  and  commence  the  work  and  make  the 
investigations  as  you  went  along? 

Mr.  Endicott.  Well,  there  is  some  preliminary  work  which  might 
be  done  that  would  not  be  affected  by  subsequent  investigation.  It 
would  be  the  part  of  wisdom,  I  think,  and  conservatism,  to  first  make 
sure  of  the  plans. 

Mr.  Ellett.  Let  me  ask  you  a  question.  If  you  were  going  to 
expend  your  own  $150^000,000  with  the  surveys  which  have  been  made 
already,  would  you  deem  it  necessary,  before  beginning  any  work  upon 


122  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

the  canal,  to  go  to  the  expenditure  of  a  large  sum  in  addition  for  addi- 
tional surveys? 

Mr.  Endicott.  Yes,  sir;  I  think  the  interests  are  so  great  and  so 
costly  it  would  pay. 

Mr.  Ellett.  Do  I  understand  you  do  not  value  very  highly  the  sur- 
veys which  have  been  already  made? 

Mr.  Endicott.  Well,  I  do  not  say  that.  I  say  there  are  serious 
omissions  and  deficiencies  which  should  be  supplied.  1  do  not  think 
they  are  sufficiently  exhaustive. 

Mr.  Ellett.  Is  this  over  the  entire  route  or  is  it  in  certain  localities 
only? 

Mr.  Endicott.  Well,  more  particularly  in  certain  localities.  In  the 
lower  portion  of  the  route  there  should  be  a  more  careful  examination 
and  survey,  and  up  the  river,  up  here,  to  determine  more  closely  the 
character  of  the  material  and  cost.  They  do  not  know  to-day  in  what 
proportions  they  are  going  to  encounter  rock  and  earth  in  the  upper 
San  Juan;  and  the  matter  of  the  regimen  of  the  lake  has  not  been 
studied  at  all,  as  far  as  I  can  ascertain.  They  have  done  practically 
nothing  there. 

The  Chaiuman.  Do  you  remember  the  latitude  of  Greytown? 

Mr.  Endicott.  No,  sir;  but  I  presume  Mr.  Noble  can  tell  you  that, 
as  he  keeps  those  things  in  his  head  right  along. 

The  Chairman.  Does  the  region  of  the  doldrums  extend  north  of 
that  latitude? 

Mr.  Endicott.  I  think  not,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  Will  you  look  at  this  map  of  the  doldrums — I  sup- 
pose you  are  familiar  with  it — which  comes  from  the  office  of  the  Coast 
and  Geodetic  Survey? 

[The  chairman  and  Mr.  Endicott  examine  the  raap.J 

The  Chairman.  It  would  be  about  12  degrees? 

Mr.  Endicott.  Well,  that  comes  pretty  close  to  it.  I  will  say  that 
they  have  the  trade  winds  there  nearly  all  the  time.  Of  course,  there 
are  times  of  calm. 

STATEMEITT  OF  MR.  A.  NOBLE. 

Mr.  NoELE.  Mr.  Chairman  and  gentlemen,  I  wish  to  give  a  classifi- 
cation of  the  items  f)f  increase  in  the  estimate  given  by  the  board  as 
compared  with  the  estimate  given  by  the  company. 

Mr.  Stewart.  Will  you  state  your  profession? 

Mr.  Noble.  My  profession  is  that  of  a  civil  engineer. 

Mr.  Stewart.  Are  you  connected  with  the  Government? 

Mr.  Noble.  No;  I  am  in  civil  lite. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Have  you  been  engaged  in  this  kind  of  work? 

Mr.  Noble.  I  was  in  local  charge  of  the  St.  Marys  Falls  Canal 
about  twelve  years,  from  1870  to  1882,  during  the  improvement  of  the 
canal  and  construction  of  the  lock  that  is  now  being  used  for  navigation. 

The  Chairman.  I  suggest  that  we  allow  this  witness  to  make  his 
statement  first  before  he  is  interrupted  by  questions. 

Mr.  Noble.  The  total  amount  of  increase  was  about  $03,000,000.  Of 
that,  over  $1,000,000  was  in  the  way  of  correcting  errors  and  computa- 
tions made  by  the  com])any's  engineers.  Over  $7,000,000  is  what  may 
be  called  new  construction — such  as  enlargement  of  the  railroad  system, 
making  a  double  track  instead  of  a  single  track,  and  providing  sidings 
and  stations,  a  i)rovision  for  quoins  for  locks,  for  strengthening  founda- 
tions by  providing  sheet  piling,  etc.,  when  necessary,  putting  in  back 


NICARAGUA    CANAL. 


123 


filling  beTiind  lock  walls  (wliicli  was  entirely  omitted  in  the  company's 
estimate),  and  caisson  abutments  for  Oclioa  Dam,  so  as  to  protect  tlie 
ends  of  the  dam  (so  that  in  case  of  a  disaster  to  the  main  dam  the  river 
conld  not  by  any  chance  cut  around  the  ends),  for  the  temporary  diver- 
sion of  the  San  Juan  River  while  building  the  dam,  and  a  few  items  of 
that  character.  Sixteen  million  dollars  to  cover  increase  in  quantities 
from  other  sources — such  as  enlargement  of  channel  in  the  river  and  the 
lake,  additional  liarbor  work,  greater  height  of  dams  and  embankments, 
on  account  of  the  greater  height  of  water  immediately  above  the  Ochoa 
Dam,  to  maintain  the  lake  at  110  feet  above  sea,  etc.  For  increase  in 
unit  prices,  $21),000,000.  Separate  provisions  for  engineering  and 
hospital  service,  $0,000,000. 

In  speaking  of  the  company's  estimates,  we  can  refer  to  either  of  two 
schedules  of  unit  prices.  The  first  of  these  schednles  is  given  in  all  the 
liublications  of  the  company  up  to  this  time,  and  is  contained  particu- 
larly in  their  estimate  of  1800,  called  the  "lleport  on  Final  Location." 
In  their  estimate  of  1895  they  made  very  large  reductions  in  the  unit 
prices,  having  made  a  very  large  increase  in  quantities,  so  that  the  total 
estimate  of  cost  remains  about  the  same.  If  the  company's  unit  prices 
of  1890  were  applied  to  the  board's  quantities,  the  total  estimate  would 
be  nearly  $120,000,000.  The  unit  prices  adopted  by  the  board  have 
been  criticised  in  the  testimony  which  has  been  given,  and  I  wish  to  say 
to  the  committee  that  the  board  went  over  the  matter  with  very  great 
care,  consulted  a  large  number  of  contractors,  specialists  in  their  line 
of  work,  and  I  M^ould  like  to  read  a  few  unit  prices  paid  on  work  in  the 
United  States  and  the  opinions  of  contractors  as  to  the  proper  unit  price 
for  use  at  Nicaragua.  Dredging  in  the  Hay  Lake  Channel  between 
Lake  Superior  and  Lake  Huron,  in  large  contracts,  has  cost  in  soft  mate- 
rial about  15  cents  per  cubic  yard.  The  dredging  at  Philadelphia,  the 
largest  contract  ever  let  in  the  United  States,  cost  14.2  cents  per  cubic 
yard. 

I  visited  last  fall,  while  investigating  this  question,  some  of  the  work 
being  done  at  Greenwich,  Conn.,  where  the  dredged  mud  was  dumped  in 
a  scow  and  by  a  patent  injector  was  forced  out  on  some  land  they  wished 
to  fill,  and  the  price  of  that  was  20  cents.  We  consulted  an  owner  of 
dredges  at  Duluth  who  has  been  in  the  dredging  business  for  thirty 
years,  and  he  advised  us  to  use  prices  at  Nicaragua  for  harbor  work  of 
not  less  than  25  to  30  cents.  A  prominent  dredging  contractor  in  New 
York  City  suggested  a  price  of  20  cents  for  protected  work  in  Grey- 
town  Harbor;  he  suggested  a  higher  price  for  dredging  in  the  canal. 
These  prices  we  practically  adopted — 20  cents  for  interior  harbor  work 
and  25  cents  for  the  canal  work;  we  adopted  40  cents  for  dredging  in 
the  harbor  entrance,  on  account  of  its  exposure  to  the  sea,  taking  an 
average  of  25  cents  for  all.  As  to  submarine  rock  excavation,  which 
forms  a  very  large  item  in  the  estimate,  I  bave  been  more  or  less  familiar 
with  that  class  of  work  for  many  years,  but  I  consulted  in  regard  to  this 
the  one  man  in  the  United  States  who  has  done  the  most  to  devise  the 
methods  by  which  this  class  of  work  is  being  done,  explaining  to  him 
as  fully  as  I  could  the  conditions  at  Nicaragua,  and  he  gave  the  figures 
of  $5  to  $0  per  yard  for  work  down  there. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Will  you  state  that  gentleman's  name? 

Mr.  Noble.  I  will  give  it  to  any  member  of  the  committee  who 
wishes  to  verify  it,  but  I  prefer  not  to  state  it  here  because  the  infor- 
mation was  given  to  me  confidentially.     Will  that  answer? 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Noble.  We  used  the  smaller  of  those  two  figures.    The  same 


124  NICARAGUA   CANAL. 

contractor  told  me  that  if  lie  was  doing  that  work  in  the  United  States 
on  such  rock  as  they  would  ordinarily  liud  here  that  he  would  oiler  at 
a  much  lower  figure  indeed. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Did  he  state  what  the  lower  figure  would  be? 

Mr.  Noble.  No;  I  do  not  remember  that  he  did  directly;  but  I 
received  the  impression  it  would  be  somewhere  between  $2  and  $3. 

The  board's  estimate  of  concrete  was  made  up  in  great  detail,  with 
estimates  of  the  cost  of  the  cement  and  sand  and  stone.  In  order  to 
get  the  price  for  cement  we  applied  to  the  agent  of  one  of  the  largest 
dealers  in  imported  Portland  cement  in  the  country,  and  he  took  the 
pains  to  write  to  his  principals  in  Germany  and  get  the  figures  for 
delivery  on  both  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  sides.  We  used  those  figures 
without  any  increase  whatever,  and  taking  the  proportions  of  sand, 
cement,  and  stone  named  by  Lieutenant  Menocal  we  arrived  at  the  cost 
of  concrete  as  $7.90  per  cubic  yard  on  the  east  side,  and  $7.60  on  the 
west  side.  Adding  20  per  cent  for  contractor's  profit,  and  the  price 
would  be  about  $9.50  per  cubic  yard  on  the  east  side,  and  $9  per  cubic 
yard  on  the  west  side. 

Precisely  such  concrete  as  we  estimate  upon  has  actually  cost  about 
$9  per  cubic  yard  on  the  Illinois  and  Hennepin  Canal,  where  it  has 
been  done  by  the  Government.  The  ordinary  contract  price  for  such 
concrete  around  New  York  City  is  about  $7,  and  I  think  the  Govern- 
ment is  paying  that  now  at  the  Brooklyn  Navy- Yard.  The  concrete  in 
the  San  Mateo  Dam,  California,  which  is  very  largely  concrete  construc- 
tion, cost  $8  per  cubic  yard,  but  the  proportion  of  stone  used  there  is 
larger  than  intended  in  the  Nicaragua  Canal  work,  and  consequently 
the  concrete  was  somewhat  cheaper.  On  the  other  hand,  there  was  a 
large  charge  for  hauling  cement  across  the  country,  which  would  tend 
to  increase  the  price.  So  it  is  probable  tliat  that  price  corres])onds 
fairly  well  with  the  price  of  $7  under  ordinary  conditions  in  the  United 
States. 

In  making  up  the  prices  for  the  western  division  of  the  Nicaragua 
Canal  we  were  guided  very  largely  by  an  actual  jn^oposition  made  to 
the  Canal  Company.  It  was  not  a  sijnple  proposition  to  do  work  at 
the  Canal  Company's  jmces.  The  dredging  at  Brito  was  expressly 
excluded.  He  considered  a  double-track  road  from  the  lake  to  Brito 
as  necessary,  and  specified  certain  mininuim  quantities  in  the  La  Flor 
dam,  but  in  general  the  company's  unit  prices  for  other  work  at  that 
time — I  refer  to  their  1890  prices — were  accepted  by  him;  they  were 
adopted  by  us,  except  the  price  for  concrete.  The  increase  in  the 
board's  prices  in  the  eastern  division  I  do  not  think  at  all  excessive 
when  we  consider  the  much  more  severe  conditions,  the  heavy  rainfall, 
and  the  unfavorable  nature  of  the  ground.  All  the  work  in  the  eastern 
division,  after  reaching  the  locks,  is  in  a  hilly  country.  The  canal  is 
tlirough  clay  hills  subject  to  almost  continuous  rainfall — a  rainfall 
greater  than  anywhere  else  on  the  Continent,  so  far  as  known. 

There  are  a  number  of  jioints  in  the  testimony  given  })reviously  that 
I  would  like  to  take  up,  but  I  have  only  had  time  to  make  a  few  notes. 
I  would  be  glad  to  put  them  in  better  shape. 

Mr.  Wanger.  We  will  be  glad  to  have  you  put  your  comments  iu 
writing. 

Mr.  NoELE.  I  will  be  glad  to  do  it. 

Mr.  Stewart.  Are  your  views,  Professor,  in  consonance  with  the 
views  of  Mr.  l^^ndicott  and  Mr.  Menocal  as  to  the  practicability  of  build- 
ing this  canal? 

Mr.  IS  OBLE.  There  is  no  doubt  it  can  be  built,  with  the  modificationg' 


NICARAGUA   CANAL.  125 

recommended  by  the  board  and  spoken  of  by  Mr.  Endicott.  I  am  com- 
pelled to  say  if  it  should  be  built  on  the  plans  proposed  by  the  company 
there  will  be  a  very  serious  risk  in  the  dams  and  embankments. 
Whether  the  route  mapped  out  by  the  company  is  the  best  route  should 
be  determined  by  further  estimates,  surveys,  and  couf^jarisons. 

The  Chairman.  There  is  a  choice  of  routes,  then? 

Mr.  Noble.  Yes,  sir;  there  is.  Instead  of  going  across  the  country 
from  the  Oclioa  Dam  it  is  possible  to  carry  a  line  down  the  valley.  The 
difiiculty  arises  in  having"  to  cross  these  small  streams,  many  of  which 
become  quite  large  in  times  of  Hood. 

Mr.  Stewart.  Mr.  Menocal  takes  that  into  account. 

Mr.  NoELE.  One  of  the  greatest  advantages  of  the  route  proposed 
by  the  com})any  is  the  fact  that  they  receive  these  streams  in  these 
basins,  which  equalize  the  Hoods. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Are  you  not  inclined  to  the  opinion  that  the  com- 
pany has  selected  the  best  route? 

Mr.  Noble.  I  can  not  say  that.  I  have  not  made  up  my  mind  in 
advance.    A  further  investigation,  I  think,  ought  to  be  made. 

Mr.  Patterson.  You  think  the  route  selected  by  the  comi)any  is 
practical? 

Mr.  Noble.  I  think  the  canal  can  be  built  there,  sir,  but  there  will 
always  be  more  or  less  risk  inherent  in  its  maintenance,  owing  princi- 
pally to  the  large  number  of  embankments  along  the  line;  a  failure  of 
one  of  them  would  be  disastrous.  The  smallest  stream  nuiking  its  way 
through  one  of  these  embankments  would  almost  certainly  cause  its 
destruction,  if  not  discovered  quickly  and  stopped.  You  understand 
how  the  smallest  leak  will  soon  grow  into  a  dc^structive  stream. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  By  xH'oper  material,  properly  placed,  can  it  not  be 
made  pertectly  safe? 

Mr.  Noble.  A  clay  dam  is  never  entirely  safe.  It  could  not  be  made 
entirely  safe.  There  would  always  be  some  risk.  Here  is  a  long  line 
of  embankments,  G  or  7  miles  long.  It  would  be  almost  impossible  to 
have  a  line  of  watchmen  all  along  there  to  guard  the  canal  from  evil- 
disposed  persons,  i)erhaps  some  man  who  had  been  discharged  and  who 
entertained  a  grudge  against  the  company,  making  a  hole  somewhere 
in  the  clay  bank  and  causing  disaster.  This  same  thing  occurs  on  the 
levees  of  the  lower  Mississippi  Kiver.  They  are  often  cut;  and  if  any 
one  is  disposed  to  do  it  it  is  difficult  to  prevent  it.  Therefore  I  say 
there  is  some  risk  in  this  respect. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  But  if  the  embankments  are  sufficiently  large,  this 
is  not  easy  of  accomplishment,  is  it? 

Mr.  Noble.  They  would  be  al^out  20  or  25  feet  wide  on  top  and  8  feet 
above  the  surface  of  the  pool,  so  it  is  evident  how  little  work  it  would 
take  to  cut  a  channel  across. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  But  the  risk  in  this  case  would  be  no  greater  than 
in  other  work  of  a  similar  character? 

Ml-.  Noble.  The  same  risk  that  exists  in  other  similar  earthwork 
construction. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  And  there  is  always  more  or  less  of  this  work  on 
every  canal? 

Mr.  Noble.  Well,  there  is  not  generally  so  much  of  it  as  here.  An 
ordinary  canal  bank  is  open  to  the  same  contingency,  but  if  cut,  the 
loss  would  be  less.  Here  there  are  a  large  number  of  embankments, 
and  disaster  to  one  of  them  would  be  very  serious. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  How  much  of  this  amount  that  you  figure  as  the 
cost — tlu'  huiidiednndodd  ni'llion  dollars — is  made  up  of  enlargement 
of  the  work  that  you  propose  '• 


126  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

Mr.  Noble.  About  $10,000,000  are  caused  by  increase  in  quantities. 
A  large  i)art  of  this  increase  is  due  to  tlie  fact  that  the  enibanlvnients 
must  be  raised,  because  tlie  water  in  tbe  summit  level  would  rise  4 
feet  liigiier  tliau  the  comi)any  calculates.  Perluips  half  a  million  would 
be  due  to  having  flatter  slopes  for  the  cut  in  Lake  Nicaragua. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  How  is  the  balance  of  the  diii'erence  between  yours 
and  the  comijany's  estimate  made  up — the  company's  estimate  which 
was  submitted  to  you? 

Mr.  Noble.  There  is  an  increase  of  about  $7,000,000,  mainly  in  the 
way  of  increased  railroad  facilities  and  greater  harbor  facilities. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  This  to  be  added  to  the  sum  y(m  just  mentioned? 

Mr,  Noble,  Yes,  sir.  The  change  in  the  Greytowii  Harbor  includes 
some  other  changes  and  expenditures,  such  as  carrying  the  breakwater 
out  into  deeper  water  and  building  a  breakwater  on  the  north  side  as 
well  as  the  south  side.  It  was  found  the  seas  sweeping  arouml  the 
northern  end  of  the  main  breakwater  carried  the  sands  into  the  harbor, 
and  we  understood  the  conipany  had  about  concluded  it  would  be  neces- 
sary to  make  the  improvement  just  mentioned.  We  have  made  some 
allowance  for  the  probable  sinkage  into  the  sea  bed  or  the  scour  past 
the  rock  lill. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  What  is  the  amount? 

Mr.  Noble.  The  sinkage  would  be  about  6  feet, 

Mr.  Doolittle.  You  do  not  recollect  the  amount? 

Mr.  Noble.  No,  sir. 

Mr.  Patterson.  How  do  the  ships  get  up  that  river  uow — the  Sau 
Juan  or  Colorado? 

Mr.  Noble.  The  San'  Juan,  ordinarily;  when  the  water  is  very  low 
they  go  up  the  Colorado,  and  through  this  little  stream,  the  Ivio  Bravo 
[indicating  ou  map]. 

Mr,  Patterson.  Is  that  good,  navigable  water  there? 

Mr.  Noble,  I  think  tliey  can  count  on  5  or  G  feet  there.  The  Colorado 
carries  by  far  the  larger  portion  of  the  water. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Could  it  be  dredged  out  and  made  deep  enough  for 
a  canal? 

Mr.  Noble.  I  doubt  that  very  much  as  regards  the  h)wer  portion  of 
the  river.     The  bed  of  the  river  is  sand  to  an  unknown  dei)th, 

Mr.  Patterson,  So  it  could  not  be  utilized  as  a  canal  to  the  sea? 

Mr.  Noble.  Not  all  the  way  to  the  sea,  I  am  confident.  The  country 
near  the  sea  is  very  flat  and  it  Avould  be  difticult  to  raise  the  stream 
above  its  level.    This  is  all  a  swampy  country, 

Mr.  Patterson.  AVhat  other  route  have  you  in  your  mind,  Mr.  Noble, 
aside  from  the  company's  and  the  one«that  runs  along  the  river? 

Mr.  Noble.  Three  routes  have  been  ijroposed — one  the  company's 
route,  and  one  following  the  river,  and  the  other  following  the  com- 
pany's route  until  you  get  through  the  first  ridge,  and  then  locking- 
down  in  this  way  [indicating  route  on  mapj  and  following  the  other 
low  level  route. 

Mr,  Stewart.  Would  you  not  recommend  immediate  legislation 
looking  tt)  the  building  of  the  canal,  with  the  understanding  that  more 
exhaustive  surveys  should  be  made? 

Mr.  Noble.  I  do  not  feel  that  I  am  in  a  position  to  ofier  any  advice. 
So  far  as  my  own  feeling  is  concerned,  I  am  very  much  interested  in 
the  Nicaragua  Canal,  but  I  could  hardly  advise  this  committee  what 
legislation  to  press  through  Congress. 

The  Chairman.  Is  there  any  similar  work  to  that  along  the  basins 
that  you  have  spoken  of,  where  these  large  clay  dams  are?  Is  there 
any  similar  work  to  that  in  the  world  that  you  know  of? 


NICARAGUA    CANAL. 


127 


Mr.  Noble.  There  are  a,  great  many  very  large  earth  and  clay  em- 
bankments in  the  world,  and  some  as  high  as  these. 

Mr.  Stewart.  Are  there  some  higher  in  India? 

Mr.  Noble.  I  wonld  not  be  surprised  if  there  are  some  there  very 
much  higher. 

Mr.  Stewart.  And  these  higlier  ones  are  at  places  where  the  rain- 
fall is  much  grepter  than  it  is  in  Nicaragua? 

Mr.  Noble.  1  can  not  say  about  that.  lu  India  the  rainfall  is  apt  to 
be  very  heavy  at  times.  There  they  probably  have  heavier  rainfalls  in 
twenty-four  hours,  but  there  are  not  many  places  in  India  where  they 
have  any  more  in  the  year  than  in  Nicaragua. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Have  you  stated  all  the  items  in  which  there  is  an 
increased  estimate  of  cost,  according  to  their  statement? 

Mr.  Noble.  I  presume  not.  I  have  attempted  merely  to  name  the 
principal  classes  of  work.  I  could  go  over  the  estimates  in  a  few  miu- 
utes,  however. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Do  j^ou  subscribe  to  the  statement  made  by  your 
comrades  on  the  Commission,  Mr.  Endicott  and  Mr.  Menocal,  that  this 
canal  could  be  constructed  over  the  line  adopted  by  the  canal  com- 
pany, with  the  additions  and  iuiprovements  that  you  have  agreed  upon 
as  necessary,  so  as  to  make  it  an  interoceanic  canal  for  all  commercial 
purposes,  for  $150,000,000? 

Mr.  Noble.  I  think  so,  sir.  I  should  feel  pretty  safe  in  making  that 
figure. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Now,  if  it  is  the  purpose  of  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  to  construct  this  canal,  what  objection  would  there  be  to 
passing  a  bill  authorizing  the  Government  to  enter  upon  this  enterprise 
with  the  view  of  its  construction,  and  let  these  additional  surveys  that 
you  speak  of  be  made  under  the  direction  of  the  Government  after  it 
enters  seriously  ui)on  the  work? 

Mr.  Noble.  Providing  funds  were  furnished  for  conducting  surveys, 
and  providing  the  policy  of  building  the  canal  was  entered  into,  there 
couhl  be  no  objection  to  appropriating  the  amount  necessary  to  make 
the  surveys,  or  any  larger  amount — provided,  I  say,  that  the  policy 
itself  of  building  the  canal  had  been  fairly  entered  into  and  decided 
upon. 

Mr.  Patterson.  That  is  to  say,  if  Congress  has  made  up  its  mind  to 
enter  upon  the  policy  of  constructing  the  canal,  even  although  the  canal 
should  cost  the  estimate  made  by  the  Commission,  then  there  would  be 
no  reason  why  the  bill  should  not  bo  passed  and  this  preliminary  work 
done  afterwards? 

Mr.  Noble.  I  can  see  no  reason,  sir. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Do  you  believe  that  the  construction  of  this  canal 
would  result  in  its  becoming  such  a  factor  in  the  international  and 
interoceanic  commerce  of  the  world  as  its  friends  anticipate? 

Mr.  Noble.  I  have  never  examined  into  the  matter  of  probable 
traffic,  so  I  can  not  answer  that  question. 

Mr.  Patterson.  You  have  never  examined  into  this  subject,  then, 
with  a  view  of  the  importance  of  the  canal  as  a  commercial  factor? 

Mr.  Noble.  No,  sir;  I  have  made  no  such  examination. 

Mr.  Patterson.  But  have  an  opinion  that  an  interoceanic  canal 
would  greatly  contribute  to  the  commerce  of  the  world  and  the  com- 
merce of  this  country? 

Mr.  Noble.  I  have  no  doubt  the  existence  of  a  canal  would  develop 
a  large  business. 

Mr.  Stewart.  That  is  not  particularly  expert  knowledge? 


128  NICARAGUA    CANAL, 

Mr.  Noble.  No,  sir ;  I  do  not  say  that  as  an  engineer,  of  course. 

Mr.  Patterson.  But  you  do  think  that  Congiess  could  legislate 
upon  this  subject,  and  do  so  on  the  assumption  that  in  no  event  would 
the  canal  cost  over  $150,000,000? 

Mr.  Noble.  I  am  well  satisfied,  sir,  that  the  canal  can  be  built  across 
that  country  at  some  location,  and  probably  over  the  proposed  route, 
for  that  amount. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Don't  you  thirk  it  can  be  built  for  that  over  tbe 
present  location? 

Mr.  Noble.  Yes,  sir;  I  say  over  that  location,  or  some  other  one,  for 
that  amount.     I  think  so. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Have  you  studied  the  geological  history  of  the 
country  and  the  history  of  volcanic  eruptions  in  this  part  of  the  coun- 
try suihciently  to  express  an  opinion  as  to  the  probability  of  the  canal 
being  disturbed  or  injured  by  volcanic  disturbance — by  earthquakes? 

INIr.  Noble.  I  concur  entirely  in  the  opinion  expressed  by  the  board 
in  their  report,  that  if  good  reasons  exist  for  building  the  canal  the 
possible  danger  that  you  mention  should  not  stop  the  work. 

The  Chairman.  Did  you  see  any  evidences  of  recent  seismic  disturb- 
ance in  that  part  of  the  country? 

Mr.  Noble.  I  do  not  think  we  found  any  such  evidence,  sir.  Among 
the  appendices  to  the  rei)ort  is  a  letter  from  Prof.  Henry  Pittier  in  regard 
to  volcanoes  and  earthquakes  in  Costa  Kica  and  Nicaragua;  he  is  well 
qualified  to  treat  that  matter,  being  the  government  engineer  of  Costa 
liica. 

Mr.  Stewart.  Is  it  a  ftict  that  footprints  and  handwriting  in  the 
clay  were  still  visible  after  fonr  years  had  elapsed? 

^Ir.  Noble.  Yes,  sir;  and  marks  made  by  the  tools  of  the  workmen. 

INIr.  Patterson.  Would  not  the  construction  of  this  canal  on  the 
route  adopted  by  the  canal  company  be  more  advantageous  than  any 
other  in  point  of  health  to  operators  while  they  are  engaged  in  the  work  ? 

Mr.  Noble.  I  do  not  think  there  is  very  much  dift'erence  between  the 
routes  proposed  in  that  respect.  A  large  part  of  the  work  would  be  in 
the  swamps.  The  climate  in  the  East  Divide,  where  there  is  much 
heavy  work,  would  be  more  healthful,  I  have  no  doubt,  than  in  the  San 
Juan  bottom. 

The  Chairman.  Is  there  labor  to  be  obtained  there? 

Mr.  Noble.  I  don't  think  it  would  amount  to  much. 

The  Chairman.  From  where  Avould  it  be  procured? 

Mr.  Noble.  Probably  from  Jamaica. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Would  not  a  good  deal  of  it  come  from  the  Southern 
States? 

Mr.  Noble.  I  do  not  know  whether  laborers  from  the  Southern  States 
could  stand  the  climate. 

Mr.  Stewart.  Plenty  of  Jamaica  labor? 

Mr.  Noble.  I  think  enough  for  this  purpose. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Is  it  not  true  that  there  was  very  httle  sickness 
among  the  engineers  who  were  down  there  a  long  time? 

Mr.  Noble.  Yes;  but  that  is  not  at  all  conclusive  as  to  health  ol 
workmen  on  the  canal.  The  engineers  in  their  preliminary  surveys 
have  suffered  very  little  with  sickness  anywhere  on  the  Isthmus,  but 
when  the  ground  is  opened  there  is  sometimes  more  trouble.  But  I 
think  by  using  labor  from  the  West  Indies  there  will  not  be  much  dan- 
ger. I  think  I  would  rather  take  my  chances  in  Nicaragua  than  in  the 
Mississippi  Eiver  bottom.  I  \vould  i-ather  be  in  Nicaragua  than  at 
Hopefield.    Colouel  Patterson  remembers  that  place. 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  129 

Mr.  Patterson.  Then  it  must  be  a  pretty  healthy  country  in 
I«I  icaragua. 

The  Chairman.  What  is  the  present  vakie  of  the  works  of  the  com- 
pany, as  you  observed  them,  exchiding  the  surveys? 

Mr.  Noble.  I  do  not  know  that  I  would  differ  at  all  from  the  esti- 
mates made  by  Mr.  Endicott,  except  I  would  not  value  the  plant  as 
highly.  I  think  it  is  worth  very  little.  Their  buildings  are  of  some 
service.  A  large  part  of  the  railroad  line  is  available ;  a  portion  of  the 
line  that  has  been  cleared  would  still  come  within  the  limits  of  a  new 
line.     I  could  not  give  figures  different  from  his. 

The  Chairman.  At  the  breakwater,  are  the  excavations  that  have 
been  made  of  value  f 

Mr.  Noble.  No;  I  think  not.  The  harbor  excavations  are  pretty 
nearly  filled  up,  and  the  canal  excavations,  I  think,  would  be  of  no 
value,  because,  if  the  harbor  entrance  were  moved  to  the  point  the  board 
thinks  proper,  the  line  of  the  canal  would  not  correspond  with  the  pres- 
ent line  at  that  point. 

The  Chairman.  How  extensive  are  the  excavations  of  the  canal? 

Mr,  Noble.  I  think  they  say  they  have  excavated  a  total  of  three- 
quarters  of  a  million  yards,  perhaps  half  of  that  in  the  canal  itself,  at 
a  rough  estimate. 

The  Chairman.  Is  there  any  part  of  the  canal  complete,  so  far  as  the 
excavation  is  concerned? 

Mr.  Noble.  No,  sir.  They  have  excavated  to  a  little  over  half  the 
full  depth,  and  most  of  the  way  only  about  half  the  width. 

The  Chairman.  Was  this  excavation  made  with  machinery? 

Mr.  Noble.  It  was  made  with  dredges  which  they  brought  from  the 
Panama  Canal. 

Mr.  Stewart.  It  is  a  good  climate  there,  isn't  it? 

Mr.  Noble.  Very  moist.  The  thermometer  does  not  register  a  high 
temperature. 

Mr.  Stewart.  Very  equable? 

Mr.  Noble.  No  sudden  changes.  Occasionally  on  the  east  coast  the 
weather  is  a  little  severe  during  northers,  but  generally  speaking  it  is 
not  extreme.    The  trade  winds  blow  almost  constantly,  ai)parent]y. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Will  you  jjlease  state,  Mr.  Noble,  what  access  you 
had  to  the  material  collected  by  the  company? 

Mr.  Noble.  I  think  they  have  given  us,  freely,  access  to  everything 
they  have. 

The  Chairman.  Did  you  have  any  conversation  with  any  person  in 
authority  in  Nicaragua  as  to  the  willingness  of  the  Government  of 
that  country  for  the  United  States  Government  to  become  the  principal 
owner  and  control  this  canal? 

Mr.  Noble.  No,  sir;  we  did  not. 

The  Chairman.  Did  you  hear  the  matter  discussed  at  all? 

Mr.  Noble.  I  did  not.  I  do  not  think  any  of  the  officials  of  Nicaragua 
speak  English.  I  do  not  speak  Spanish.  When  we  called  on  the  Presi- 
dent at  Managua,  the  capital,  we  were  accompanied  by  Mr.  Menocal, 
who  was  the  interpreter,  and  that  matter  was  not  taken  up. 

The  Chairman.  Is  there  anything  further  you  have  to  suggest? 

Mr.  Noble.  Nothing  further,  sir. 

Mr.  Patterson.  It  has  been  urged  before  this  committee  very  ear- 
nestly by  Colonel  Andrews — perhaps  you  know  him — that  this  canal,  even 
if  it  were  constructed,  would  be  so  environed  by  accidents  of  various 
kinds — the  breaking  of  dams,  injury  to  locks,  and  the  impracticability 
of  great  iron  ships  passing  through  it  by  reason  of  the  jolting  against 
N  c 9 


130  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

the  rocks  tliat  would  take  place — that  the  canal  would  be  comparatively 
useless  to  commerce.  He  presents  that  view  of  it  very  forcefully  to  this 
committee.  Now,  what  is  your  opiuiou  in  regard  to  the  permanency  of 
the  canal  and  its  uses  ?  Is  it  adapted  to  the  uses  that  its  friends  attribute 
to  it? 

Mr.  Noble.  I  think  the  canal,  with  the  modifications  proposed  by 
the  board,  would  be  a  useful  canal. 

Mr.  Pattekson,  Be  a  commercial  success"? 

Mr.  Noble.  Without  any  doubt,  as  far  as  affording  safe  passage  for 
vessels  is  concerned.  There  will  always  be,  as  I  said  before,  some 
inherent  risk  on  account  of  the  long  lines  of  embankments  and  dams, 
but  aside  from  that  I  do  not  see  any  difficulty. 

Mr.  Patterson.  You  have  no  doubt,  then,  that  the  commerce  of  the 
world  would  unhesitatingly  adopt  the  canal  for  its  purposes'? 

Mr.  Noble.  I  do  not  see  any  difficulty  in  passing  vessels  through  the 
canal.  I  presume  that  is  the  gist  of  the  question.  I  can  not  see  any 
difficulty  in  that,  although  of  course  they  would  have  to  proceed  at  a 
low  rate  of  speed  through  the  rock  cuts  and  other  narrow  sections. 

Mr.  Corliss.  How  would  the  sailing  vessels  be  operated  ? 

Mr.  Noble.  Towed  through. 

On  motion  of  Mr.  Stewart,  a  vote  of  thanks  was  extended  to  Messrs. 
Endicott  and  Noble. 

REMARKS  BY  MR.  ALFRED  NOBLE  UPON  THE  TESTIMONY  RELAT- 
ING TO  THE  REPORT  OF  THE  NICARAGUA  CANAL  BOARD. 

The  Nicaragua  Canal  Board  in  its  report  on  the  project  submitted  by 
the  canal  company  attempted  to  present  the  facts  it  had  ascertained  in 
regard  to  that  project.  The  duty  assigned  to  it  proved  not  an  agree- 
able one,  because  it  was  necessary  to  sjieak  plainly  of  many  omissions 
of  essential  data;  of  incorrect  conclusions  from  observed  facts;  of  mis- 
statements regarding  important  natural  conditions  affecting  the  work, 
and  of  large  errors  in  computations  of  quantities,  all  tending  to  reduce 
the  estimate  of  cost. 

The  conclusions  of  the  board' may  be  summed  up  as  follows: 

First.  The  data  collected  are  in  many  respects  deficient,  either  for  a 
final  judgment  as  to  the  best  route  for  the  canal,  for  an  estimate  of  its 
cost,  or  for  the  information  of  intending  bidders. 

Second.  The  channel  widths  proposed  in  the  San  Juan  Elver  and 
Lake  Nicaragua  are  insufficient  for  the  traffic  expected  by  the  com- 
pany. Besides  these  large  modifications,  the  project  should  be  changed 
in  many  minor  respects. 

Third.  The  correction  of  errors  in  the  company's  estimate  makes  a 
large  increase  in  the  estimated  cost. 

The  conclusions  of  the  board  are  contested  by  the  company  in  the 
testimony  of  Mr.  Warner  Miller  and  Mr.  A.  G.  Meuocal,  the  latter  the 
chief  engineer  of  the  company  since  its  organization.  For  the  purpose 
of  reviewing  this  testimony,  in  view  of  the  short  time  available  and  in 
the  absence  of  the  chairman  of  the  board,  Mr.  Endicott  and  myself 
made  a  division  of  the  subject.  I  undertook  to  treat  briefly  of  the 
additional  surveys  and  examinations  deemed  necessary  by  the  board; 
of  the  portion  of  the  route  between  the  Ochoa  Dam  and  the  Pacific 
and  of  the  subject  of  unit  prices.  Colonel  Ludlow  in  his  testimony 
given  recently  before  the  committee  has  taken  up  the  questions  to  a 
greater  or  less  extent  and  in  respect  of  unit  prices  very  fully,  and  noth- 
ing need  be  added  on  this  point.    The  testimony  of  Mr.  Miller  as  regaids 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  131 

the  engineering  features  of  the  i)roject  is  practically  covered  by  that  of 
the  chief  engineer.  Tii  a  few  cases  where  he  attemi^ts  to  give  figures 
as  to  tlie  dimensions  proposed  for  the  work,  they  diHer  from  those  sub- 
mitted to  tlie  board  and  are  probably  erroneous,  as,  for  instance,  the 
proposed  length  of  the  Greytown  breakwater  (p.  11  of  Hearings  on 
House  bill  3a)  and  the  bottom  width  of  canal  (pp.  13  and  16).  These 
remarks  will  therefore  be  confined  to  the  testimony  offered  by  the  chief 
engineer. 

RAINFALL   OBSERVATIONS   AND  RIVER   GAUGINGS. 

The  position  of  the  chief  engineer  in  regard  to  this  subject  is  curious. 
In  the  first  place  (p.  GS)  he  recognizes  fully  the  importance  of  such  data 
and  admits  that  the  company's  records  are  deficient;  but  (second)  he 
claims  that  such  observations  must  extend  over  a  long  period  of  time 
and  over  a  large  area,  and  even  the  results  of  twenty  years'  observa- 
tions "may  be  entirely  apset  the  twenty-first;"  however  (third),  he  pro- 
poses during  the  years  employed  in  construction  (elsewhere  estimated 
at  six  years)  to  collect  the  data  "to  which  the  works  must  be  adjusted 
in  their  completion." 

This  idea  of  commencing  construction  without  data  and  adjusting 
the  works  "in  their  completion"  to  data  accumulated  during  the  con- 
struction was  adopted  at  Panama,  and  all  the  world  knows  the  disas- 
trous result. 

The  chief  engineer  states  that  "this  method  is  also  much  simpler  than 
to  go  through  lengthy  complicated  theoretical  calculations  based  on 
estimated  watersheds,  rainfalls,  and  run-offs."  The  board  made  use 
of  calculations  based  on  conservative  assumptions  for  the  purpose  only 
of  i^ointing  out  the  serious  nature  of  the  problems  involved,  and  to  show 
the  absolute  necessity  of  learning  the  natural  conditions  before  attempt- 
ing to  solve  them.  It  must  be  remembered  that  the  physical  conditions 
in  Nicaragua  are  different  from  those  to  which  American  engineers  are 
accustomed,  and  vastly  more  unfavorable  both  for  construction  and  for 
maintenance.  That  this  is  the  purpose  of  introducing  th§  calculations, 
that  the  method  is  an  unsatisfactory  substitute  for  actual  observations 
of  rainfall,  measurements  of  river  discharge,  and  other  cognate  data  is 
distinctly  specified  in  the  report,  and  the  proper  data  are  urgently  called 
for.  Still  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  general  results  of  the  calcula- 
tions will  be  confirmed  when  the  observations  are  made. 

The  chief  engineer  would  have  it  inferred  that  the  period  available 
for  the  collection  of  data  by  the  company  was  only  eighteen  months, 
although  careful  not  to  state  this  definitely.  As  a  matter  of  fact  the 
company  carried  on  work  along  the  line  of  the  canal  from  1887  to  1893, 
a  period  of  about  six  years,  and  during  that  time  the  required  data 
might  have  been  collected  with  a  good  degree  of  comi)leteness.  Start- 
ing with  this  information,  and  then  "making  liberal  allowance  for  a  pos- 
sible maximum,"  as  customary  in  such  cases,  a  fairly  complete  project 
might  have  been  presented  and  a  more  satisfactory  estimate  of  the 
cost  of  the  project  obtained. 

The  period  of  eigliteen  months  named  by  the  board  as  the  shortest 
period  permissible  for  the  collection  of  new  data  is  admittedly  short; 
but  if  the  work  is  placed  under  intelligent  control,  and  conducted  with 
the  sole  object  of  ascertaining  facts  regardless  of  the  conclusions  to 
wliich  they  may  lead,  much  can  be  done  and  a  reasonable  project  can  be 
presented. 

The  imi^ortance  of  such  data  can  be  illustrated  by  reference  to  the 


132  NICARAGUA   CANAL. 

construction  hazards  of  the  Ochoa  Dam.  If  a  flood  of  150,000  cubic 
feet  per  second  shoukl  pass  over  the  dam  when  built  nearly  to  full 
height,  the  velocity  of  the  water  down  its  lower  slope  would  i)robably 
exceed  25  feet  per  second;  none  of  the  carefully  built  anicuts  of  India 
are  subjected  to  such  a  destructive  force,  although  often  suffering  dam- 
age from  a  much  less  one.  If  on  the  other  hand  the  chief  engineer's 
estimate  that  the  maximum  flood  of  the  San  Juan  does  not  exceed 
63,000  cubic  ieet  per  second  be  correct,  the  velocity  and  force  of  the 
current  down  the  slope  would  be  much  less  and  possil)ly  not  destructive. 

The  board  has  good  reasons  for  believing  the  estimate  of  150,000 
cubic  feet  per  second  not  excessive.  If  observations  verify  this,  the 
successful  building  of  the  dam  at  the  site  and  by  the  methods  proposed 
must  be  considered  a  matter  of  chance.  If  one  of  these  extreme  floods 
should  occur  during  the  period  of  construction  it  would  probably  carry 
away  almost  the  entire  rock-till. 

The  crude  or  insecure  character  of  the  estimates  of  flood  discharge 
liresented  from  time  to  time  by  the  chief  engineer  is  shown  by  a  com- 
parison of  his  estimates  of  flood  discharge  from  two  basins.  One  of 
these  is  the  basin  of  the  San  Juan  above  Ochoa,  where  the  possible 
flood  is  minimized;  the  other  is  the  basin  of  the  San  Francisco,  a  small 
stream  discharging  into  the  San  Juan  below  Ochoa,  where  the  possible 
discharge  is  magnitied.  A  large  discharge  from  the  San  Juan  would 
be  unfavorable  to  the  Ochoa  Dam  during  construction,  and  would  require 
for  a  proper  regulation  of  the  summit  level  extensive  and  costly  weirs. 
A  large  discharge  from  the  San  Francisco  would  be  unfavorable  for  a 
low-level  line  following  the  river,  and  therefore  favorable  to  the  chief 
engineer's  route  through  the  east  divide.  From  the  small  basin  of  the 
San  Francisco,  with  an  assumed  area  of  only  G5  square  miles,  he  calcu- 
lates a  discharge  of  21,000  cubic  feet  per  second.  The  area  draining 
into  the  San  Juan,  excluding  the  lake  basin,  is  about  2,250  square 
miles,  as  scaled  on  the  maps,  or  thirty-five  times  as  great  as  that  drained 
by  the  San  Francisco.  Over  the  larger  part  of  this  great  area  the 
conditions  as  regards  rainfall  and  runoff  are  not  materially  different 
from  those  in  the  smaller  basin,  yet  the  floods  are  assumed  to  be  only 
three  times  as  great.     One  estimate  or  the  other  is  absurd. 

The  importance  of  ascertaining  the  conditions  governing  the  rise  and 
iall  of  Lake  Nicaragua  and  applying  the  information  to  the  study  of 
the  control  of  its  level  after  the  construction  of  the  canal  can  hardly 
be  overstated.    This  matter  seems  to  have  received  no  attention. 

It  is  not  intended  to  treat  this  subject  fully,  but  merely  to  again  call 
attention  to  its  iiiii)ortance.  The  data  nmst  be  collected,  or  in  other 
words  the  requirements  must  be  known  before  a  plan  can  be  formulated 
intelligently. 

BOEINGS. 

It  is  a  fact  shown  by  the  company's  records  that  the  borings  made  in 
the  east  divide  showed  the  presence,  near  the  grade  of  canal  bottom 
and  under  a  great  depth  of  overlying  material,  of  rock  rei)orted  as 
decomi^osed.  A  sample  of  it  preserved  in  the  company's  ollice  in  New 
York  coutirmed  the  field  notes.  If  this  deposit  is  extensive,  there 
would  probably  be  a  large  landslide  into  the  canal,  unless  the  slope 
was  flattened  and  the  i)ressure  relieved ;  the  result  would  be  a  large 
increase  of  excavation  and  consequently  of  cost. 

Nearly  all  the  rock  samples  obtained  by  the  diamond  drill  have  been 
lost.  If  they  had  been  preserved  and  arranged  systematically  they 
would  have  been  of  great  value  to  the  company  in  order  to  enable 


NICARAGUA   CANAL.  133 

intending  bidders  to  study  the  rock  and  to  make  the  lowest  safe  pro- 
I)osals  for  its  removal.  Tliis  would  be  a  sufficient  reason  for  taking- 
new  borings  if  there  were  no  other. 

In  the  upper  portion  of  the  San  Juan  River  no  borings  have  been 
taken,  and  the  proper  classification  of  materials — whether  mud,  clay, 
sand,  gravel,  or  rock — is  uncertain. 

THE   SAN  JUAN  RIVER. 

The  recommendation  of  the  board  that  the  excavated  channel  be 
increased  in  width  from  125  to  250  feet  was  based  in  part  on  experience 
in  the  Great  Lakes.  The  width  of  300  feet  was  established  for  the 
dredged  channel  between  Lakes  Superior  and  Huron  when  the  tonnage 
was  much  less  than  expected  at  the  Nicaragua  Canal,  and  as  the  ton- 
nage increased  was  found  insufficient,  the  principal  trouble  arising 
wlien  vessels  meet;  it  was  also  found  necessary  to  move  vessels  at  a 
moderate  speed,  although  they  were  smaller  and  more  manageable  than 
ocean  vessels.  At  the  present  time  these  channels  are  being  made 
wider  in  many  cases  to  accommodate  the  larger  traffic.  As  to  the  depth 
of  water  in  the  channel,  it  is  stated  by  the  cliief  engineer  that  it  is  the 
intention  to  make  it  ultimately  30  feet  in  all  sections,  bnt  that  in  order 
to  reduce  first  cost  certain  portions — among  them  the  channel  in  the 
San  Juan — are  to  be  made  only  28  feet  deep  at  first.  It  would  be  poor 
economy  in  the  end  to  do  this.  It  is  obvious  at  once  that  in  rock  sec- 
tions the  process  of  going  over  the  whole  area  to  remove  only  2  feet  ol 
material  would  be  expensive,  and  the  same  is  true  to  a  great  extent  of 
the  dredgeable  sections,  and  the  final  cost  of  the  work  completed  to  full 
depth  would  be  increased  considerably. 

It  is  believed  the  company  admits  for  the  first  time  in  this  testimony 
the  possibility  that  the  level  of  the  lake  may  run  down  to  108^  feet 
above  sea  level,  which  would  reduce  the  depth  in  the  dredged  channel 
of  the  river  to  20^  feet,  making  it  at  once  impracticable  for  our  largest 
war  ships.  There  can  be.  no  reasonable  doubt  that  a  still  further  reduc- 
tion in  depth  will  occur  on  account  of  the  draining  down  of  the  lake 
during  the  dry  season. 

This  brings  up  the  question  of  slope  in  the  river  from  the  lake  to  the 
dam  after  the  completion  of  the  latter.  The  chief  engineer  estimates 
it  at  three-fourths  of  an  inch  per  mile,  claiming  this  to  be  the  result  of 
observations  on  a  deep  section  of  the  river  in  its  present  condition,  and 
says  in  effect  that  there  are  no  data  at  hand  on  which  to  base  calcula- 
tions that  would  be  even  approximate. 

In  reply  to  this  it  may  be  said  in  the  first  place  that  where  the  amount 
of  water  is  small  and  the  waterway  large,  as  would  be  the  case  in  the 
San  Juan  during  the  dry  season  after  the  completion  of  the  dam,  it  is 
practicable  to  determine  from  existing  data  nearly  enough  for  the  pres- 
ent purpose  what  the  slope  and  total  fall  will  be  even  if  there  is  a  large 
proportion  of  uncertainty.  The  ordinary  works  on  hydraulics  furnish 
the  method  for  doing  this. 

This  is  not  the  place  to  take  up  the  question  in  detail,  as  it  would  be 
uninteresting  to  the  nonprofessional  and  commonplace  to  an  engineer. 


134  NICARAGUA   CANAL. 

The  importance  of  the  question  of  slope  as  bearing  on  the  depth  of 
the  dredged  cliannel  in  the  river  and  lake  is  very  great,  as  will  appear 
from  the  following  sketch: 


A  is  supposed  to  represent  outlet  of  Lake  Nicaragua;  B  the  v/i  lioa 
Dam;  A  to  B  the  surface  of  the  river  according  to  the  company's 
expectation;  D  to  E  is  channel  bottom.  The  channel  will  not  require 
excavation  all  of  the  way  from  D  to  E,  a  distance  of  69  miles,  but  only 
about  28  miles  from  D  toward  E.  The  lake  is  supposed  to  be  at  eleva- 
tiou  110  above  mean  tide;  the  river  immediately  above  B  is  supposed 
to  be  at  elevation  106,  giving  a  fall  of  4  feet  in  the  entire  distance. 

The  board  believes  that  near  the  end  of  the  dry  season  the  river  sur- 
face would  be  practically  level  upstream  from  B,  and  the  depth  of  water 
in  the  dredged  channel  would  be  reduced  from  28  feet  to  21  feet,  afford- 
ing passage  for  boats  drawing  about  22  feet. 

There  are  two  ways  to  remedy  this.  One  is  to  deepen  the  channel  in 
the  river,  the  lake,  and  through  the  west  divide,  or,  in  other  words,  to 
deepen  the  entire  excavation  from  the  Ochoa  Dam  to  the  summit  lock 
between  the  lake  and  the  Pacific;  this  would  be  enormously  expensive. 
The  other  way  to  secure  the  desired  depth  for  navigation  is  to  raise  the 
crest  of  the  Ochoa  Dam  and  all  the  other  dams,  weirs,  and  embank- 
ments in  the  vast  system  by  which  the  summit  level  is  maintained. 
This  would  also  be  very  costly,  but  less  so  than  the  other  way,  and  is 
the  method  adopted  by  the  board.  It  results  in  a  large  increase  ni 
quantities  for  the  dams  and  embankments  and  a  corresponding  addi- 
tion to  the  estimate  of  cost. 

With  the  arrangement  of  weirs  now  proposed  by  the  company  it  is 
certain  that  the  water  level  immediately  above  the  Ochoa  Dam  would 
be  drawn  down  below  elevation  106,  and  the  depth  of  water  in  the 
dredged  channel  in  the  river  and  lake  would  actually  be  less  than  21 
feet. 

It  was  not  made  clear  to  the  board  and  is  not  believed  by  the  writer 
that  the  alleged  slope  of  three  fourths  of  an  inch  per  mile  in  Agnas 
Muertas  was  reliably  obtained.  As  a  part  of  the  work  of  the  Lull  sui-- 
vey  in  1873  a  level  line  was  run  down  the  bank  of  the  river,  connecting 
here  and  there  with  the  river's  surface.  It  is  not  disputed  that  the 
difference  of  level  was  correctly  given  as  found;  but  after  passing  one 
end  of  a  stretch  and  determining  the  heiglit  of  water  there,  several 
days  must  have  elapsed  before  reaching  the  other  end  and  determining 
the  height  of  water  there.  During  this  time  the  river  was  probably 
rising  or  falling. 

The  board  found  no  evidence  that  simultaneous  observations  of  the 
height  of  the  river  were  taken  at  both  ends  of  the  line;  such  observa- 
tions were  the  only  means  bj^  wliich  the  actual  slope  could  be  deter- 
mined at  any  moment.  The  board  therefore  attached  no  value  to  the 
reported  slope. 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  135 

For  the  determination  of  probable  slope  in  tlie  river  at  high  stages 
ttie  data  are  altogether  inadequate,  and  the  board  found  it  impossible 
to  arrive  at  any  result  of  value.  Additional  surveys  and  examinations 
are  indispensable  for  this  purx)ose. 

LAKE  NICARAGUA. 

The  reasons  for  recommending  a  greater  width  in  the  dredged  canal 
at  the  east  end  of  the  lake  are  stated  in  the  report  of  the  board  and  in 
the  preceding  remarks  on  the  San  Juan  River.  If  the  views  there 
expressed  are  correct,  the  company's  project  is  defective  also  as  regards 
depth  of  channel  and  provides  for  a  minimum  channel  deiith  in  the 
lake  of  26  feet  only,  or  for  the  passage  of  boats  drawing  24  feet,  by 
reason  of  the  reduction  of  level  toward  the  end  of  the  dry  season. 

The  company's  estimate  provides  for  side  slopes  of  3  to  1.  These  can 
not  be  maintained  through  the  ooze  which  forms  the  bed  of  the  lake  at 
that  locality.  The  slopes  assumed  by  the  board,  an  average  of  10  to  1, 
are  moderate.  With  these  slopes  a  channel  having  a  bottom  width  of 
150  feet  would  require  about  7,800,000  cubic  yards  of  dredging;  the 
bottom  width  can  be  doubled  to  conform  to  the  views  of  the  board  by 
an  increase  in  excavation  of  less  than  50  per  cent. 

The  need  of  a  survey  of  the  entire  lake  route  for  the  purpose  of  navi- 
gation is  conceded  by  the  chief  engineer. 

LAKE  NICARAaUA   TO   BRITO   HARBOR, 

It  is  believed  that  a  proposition  for  a  low-level  basin  in  the  Eio 
Grande  Tola  Valley  is  advanced  by  the  company  in  the  recent  testi- 
mony for  the  first  time.  It  was  not  presented  to  the  board.  The  sur- 
vey for  an  alternate  location  of  a  low-level  canal  through  the  valley 
was  advised  by  the  board  because  it  disposed  of  the  Rio  Grande  at  the 
head  of  the  valley  and  afterwards  crossed  no  streams  of  importance. 
The  Tola,  which  is  crossed  by  the  company's  location,  has  a  channel 
about  40  feet  wide  and  15  feet  deep  where  viewed  by  the  board,  and  is 
said  to  run  bank  full  at  high  floods.  Further  information  is  needed  as 
to  the  magnitude  of  its  floods.  The  board  recommended  an  examina- 
tion of  the  proposed  line  and  a  comparison  of  its  advantages  with 
those  of  the  company's  line  after  the  ascertainment  of  the  facts;  the 
wisdom  of  this  course  will  be  obvious  without  discussion  to  any  one 
familiar  with  location  and  construction. 

BRITO   HARBOR. 

After  the  plan  for  this  harbor  had  been  developed  and  estimates 
made,  borings  with  an  auger  indicated  the  existence  of  rock  above  the 
grade  of  canal  bottom  over  a  larger  part  of  the  harbor  area.  If  the 
borings  were  correct  they  made  one  of  three  courses  necessary: 

First.  To  remove  a  large  amount  of  rock  under  water  at  great  cost. 

Second.  To  move  the  site  farther  south  and  avoid  the  rock.  This 
was  less  expensive  than  the  first,  and  was  the  basis  of  the  board's 
estimate. 

Third.  To  reduce  the  harbor  area  by  excluding  the  rock  area  without 
other  change,  rendering  entrance  to  the  harbor  diificult  or  impractica- 
ble.   This  is  the  company's  remedy. 

The  earth  auger  may  have  given  erroneous  indications.  Instead  of 
rock,  there  may  be  bowlders  which  can  be  removed  by  dredging,  or  the 


136  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

rock  may  be  soft  and  dredgeable,  and  in  either  case  the  company's 
original  location  can  be  retained  and  the  cost  of  the  harbor  reduced. 

In  concluding  these  remarks  the  writer  desires  to  impress  on  the  com- 
mittee the  fact  that  the  board  in  preparing  its  report  sought  to  state 
with  moderation  the  difficulties  of  the  canal  construction  and  to  avoid 
an  excessive  estimate  of  its  cost.  Where  different  unit  prices  were  sug- 
gested by  experienced  and  reliable  contractors,  the  lowest  one  was 
usually  taken.  During  the  recent  hearings  the  com]niny  has  introduced 
new  testimony  relating  to  unit  prices.  Two  of  the  witnesses  are  well- 
known  contractors,  familiar  with  work  in  tropical  countries.  In  both 
cases  their  figures  when  properly  analyzed  confirm  the  estimates  of  the 
board. 

Alfred  Noble. 


Committee  on  Interstate  and  Foreign  Commerce, 

Tuesday,  April  28,  1896. 
The  Committee  on  Interstate  and  Foreign  Commerce  this  day  met, 
Hon.  William  P.  Hepburn  in  the  chair. 

STATEMENT  OF  COL.  WILLIAM  LUDLOW,  OF   THE  ENGINEER 

CORPS,  U.  S.  A. 

The  Chairman.  Colonel  Ludlow,  this  meeting  was  devoted  to  the 
purpose  of  hearing  anything  you  might  desire  to  say  to  the  committee 
in  regard  to  your  late  service  on  the  Commission  in  connection  with 
the  Nicaragua  Canal. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Mr.  Chairman  and  gentlemen  of  the  committee,  I 
am  not  at  very  great  advantage  in  appearing  before  the  committee,  as  I 
have  done  at  their  request,  because  I  have  been  traveling  pretty  far 
and  fast,  and  have  not  had  much  opportunity  to  become  conversant 
with  the  present  status  of  affairs;  but  I  have  taken  occasion  to  read, 
since  coming  to  Washington,  some  of  the  statements  that  have  been 
made  before  the  committee. 

Mr.  Stewart.  Will  you  state  as  a  preliminary  your  profession  and 
position? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  will  do  so.  I  am  a  lieutenant-colonel  in  the  Corps 
of  Engineers  of  the  Army,  and  my  ofllicial  relation  with  the  Nicaragua 
matter  began  with  my  appointment  as  a  member  of  the  Nicaragua  board 
in  conjunction  with  two  others,  Mr.  Endicott  and  Mr.  Noble,  and  my 
immediate  personal  relation  to  the  matter  terminated  on  the  1st  of 
November,  1895,  when,  in  accordance  with  the  law,  the  report  of  the 
board  was  submitted  to  the  President.  I  would  like  to  say,  if  you  do 
not  object,  a  few  words  in  regard  to  the  attitude  of  the  board  in  rela- 
tion to  this  question.  I  have  stated  that  our  relation  to  the  project  ter- 
minated with  the  rendering  of  our  report.  Since  then  we  have  all  been 
quite  otherwise  engaged,  and  our  ofticial  connection  with  it  I  believed 
had  been  terminated.  We  are  glad  to  furnish  any  information  the  com- 
mittee may  desire,  and  I  would  like,  if  you  jilease,  to  state  what  our 
attitude  was  during  the  course  of  our  investigation. 

It  was  a  subject  with  which  none  of  us  was  familiar,  but  which  I 
believe  i)crsonally  we  all  regarded  with  great  interest  if  not  with  great 
predilection  as  an  imj^ortant  and  interesting  work  in  which  everybody 
was  interested.  We  had  little  time,  or  no  time,  for  ineliminaries  in  the 
investigation  of  the  matter.  We  were  appointed  late  in  April,  I  think 
the  25th,  if  I  remember  correctly,  and  we  had  only  a  week  in  New  York 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  137 

to  make  our  preparations.  It  has  been  suggested  that  the  purpose  of 
Congress  in  appointing  the  Commission  was  this,  that,  and  the  other, 
for  delay,  if  you  choose,  or  something  of  the  kind.  I  think  the  board 
has  the  right,  and  I  have  the  right,  as  a  member  of  it,  to  state  our 
position  in  this  respect. 

We  had  no  instructions  whatever  from  anyone  with  regard  to  the 
conduct  of  our  investigation,  except  those  which  we  had  from  the  hon- 
orable the  Secretary  of  State,  Mr.  Gresham,  and  which  are  i^rinted 
in  tlie  board's  report.  We  had  no  other  instructions  from  him,  either 
verbal  or  written,  or  from  any  other  person  connected  with  the  affair 
directly  or  indirectly.  We  had  an  interview — I  do  not  think  I  am  com- 
mitting any  Impropriety  in  stating  it,  it  being  purely  an  otiicial  matter — 
we  had  an  interview  with  the  President  before  we  left  Washington  for 
New  York,  purposing  later  to  sail,  and  we  made  an  official  call  upon 
the  President  before  leaving  Washington,  merely  for  the  purpose  of 
thanking  him  for  the  appointment,  etc.,  and  we  took  occasion  at  that 
time  to  express  our  views  as  to  the  nature  of  our  duty. 

We  recognized  the  fact  that  the  question  had  been  long  before  the 
country  and  had  been  the  subject  of  more  or  less  controversy,  more  or 
less  interesting  in  Congress  and  out  of  it.  It  was  not,  as  we  believed, 
to  be  expected  that  our  report  would  be  in  any  sense  satisfactory  either 
to  one  side  or  to  the  other,  but  we  were  sent  down  as  the  representa- 
tives of  the  United  States  Government  and  as  professional  engineers 
to  investigate  and  ascertain  the  exact  facts  as  we  should  be  able  to 
understand  them,  and  to  report  those  facts.  We  told  the  President  our 
view  of  it  was  that  we  hoped  to  be  able  to  submit  a  report  which  would 
approve  itself  to  the  engineering  fraternity  of  the  world  as  an  intelli- 
gent and  faithful  endeavor  to  ascertain  those  facts  and  report  them, 
and  that  was  all  we  could  undertake  to  do. 

The  reply  of  the  President  was  simply  to  the  effect  he  was  very  much 
pleased  to  hear  what  we  had  said  in  regard  to  that,  and  that  the  individ- 
uals composing  the  board  had  been  selected  and  appointed  to  it  for 
the  reason  that  that  was  exactly  the  kind  of  report  that  was  wanted 
and  it  was  believed  we  would  make.  That  terminated  our  official  instruc- 
tions or  anything  in  the  nature  of  them.  We  had  a  week  in  New  York 
to  make  preliminary  preparations,  organize  our  party,  buy  our  su])p]ies, 
and  arrange  for  our  departure.  We  blocked  out  the  work  for  the  season, 
and  we  in  a  general  way  estimated  that  we  had  about  six  months  more 
or  less  in  which  to  get  our  work  done,  and  we  concluded  to  divide  it 
equally  between  work  in  the  field  and  work  in  New  York  in  the  inves- 
tigation of  the  large  mass  of  canal  company's  data.  We  spent  three 
months  in  the  Isthmus. 

We  spent  forty  days,  I  think  five  weeks  and  over,  in  Nicaragua.  We 
went  over  every  foot  of  the  route  of  the  canal;  we  made  as  thorough 
and  as  exhaustive  an  investigation  of  the  physics  and  natural  condi- 
tions as  we  could  in  making  a  journey  of  that  sort.  We  are  the  only 
engineers  who  have  ever  been  over  the  entire  route,  and  in  making  that 
statement  I  do  not  make  any  exceptions.  It  remains  true  to  this  day. 
I  will,  with  your  permission,  refer  later  to  that  branch  of  the  subject, 
and  will  now  go  on  and  simply  state,  in  a  general  way,  that  we  went 
from  Nicaragua  to  Costa  Pica  and  investigated  the  physics  of  the  rail- 
road there,  in  order  to  see  what  was  the  effect  of  the  climate  and  rain- 
fall, which  had  been  much  dreaded  on  an  outdoor  construction  of  that 
kind.  We  were  much  gratified  with  what  we  found.  We  had  excep- 
tional advantages  for  seeing  it,  because,  after  reaching  San  Jose,  the 
railroad  was  washed  out  at  a  great  many  places  by  a  heavy  rainfall,  and 


138  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

we  had  to  walk  back  to  Port  Liraon,  wliicli,  althongli  not  being  entirely 
pleasant,  gave  ns  ample  opportnnities  to  examine  it  closely. 

We  went  to  Colon  for  similar  i)nrposes  to  investigate  the  condition 
of  the  Panama  Canal,  so  called,  since  its  snspension,  to  find  out  what 
effect  the  rainfall  had  been  there,  and  our  observations  in  that  respect 
were  also  gratifying.  We  then  returned  to  New  York  the  latter  jiart 
of  July  and  spent  the  remainder  of  the  time  in,  I  think,  the  most  labo- 
rions,  if  not  exhausting,  task  I  ever  had  to  tackle,  and  that  was  to  go 
through  the  entire  accumulated  mass  of  canal  data,  in  order  to  ascer- 
tain what  was  the  information  the  company  had  acquired  and  to  perfect 
such  judgment  and  opinion  as  we  could  form,  moditied  and  guided  by 
our  observations  in  the  country  itself 

Mr,  Stewart.  Would  there  be  any  impro]U'iety  in  the  question  if  I 
should  inquire  who  wrote  the  report  to  the  President? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  The  question  is  unusual,  but  I  suppose  there  are 
no  reasons  for  not  saying  so.  I  have  not  any  now.  We  all  three  wrote 
it.  It  was  throughout  a  composite  affair.  The  field  was  too  large  for 
any  one  man  to  cover.  We  were  all  three  interested  in  the  different 
branches  of  the  subject,  and  equally  responsible  for  the  results,  and  we 
all  three  worked  at  it  as  laboriously  as  we  knew  how.  We  worked  from 
0,  or  half  past  9,  in  the  morning  until  5  and  (3  o'clock  at  the  office  in  the 
army  building  loaned  us  for  that  purpose,  and  in  a  majority  of  cases  we 
got  at  the  matter  again  after  dinner,  working  until,  say,  lli  o'clock.  Of 
course  this  was  individually  at  our  homes.  We  blocked  the  work  out, 
in  a  certain  sense,  and  tried  to  get  the  field  covered,  but  no  one  man 
could  cover  the  whole  of  it  in  three  months,  or  six  months,  or  a  longer 
time.  However,  we  managed  to  get  over  it,  and,  while  the  results  were 
unsatisfactory,  we  are  content,  and  quite  content,  in  the  belief  we  did 
our  best,  certainly,  and  that  what  we  have  done  will  sooner  or'  later 
approve  itself  to  those  whose  judgment  is  to  be  respected  in  this  matter 
when  they  have  had  opportunity  to  investigate  the  nature  of  the  whole 
subject.  The  report  is  a  comiiosite  affair.  The  only  man  who  wrote  it 
all  was  the  typewriter. 

Mr.  Patterson.  You  all  concurred  in  the  opinion  that  it  is  practi- 
cable to  construct  the  canal? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  state  that  in  the  report. 

Mr.  Patterson.  I  refer  now  to  what  Mr.  Noble  and  Mr.  Endicott 
stated  before  the  committee. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  The  text  of  our  report  on  that  matter  will  speak 
for  itself  in  regard  to  the  construction  of  the  canal — that  it  is  entirely 
feasible. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Within  what  limitation? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Of  time  or  money? 

Mr.  Patterson.  Of  money. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Well,  that  is  difficult  to  say,  because  we  were  not 
satisfied  that  we  had  the  information  that  was  necessary  to  a  satisfac- 
tory answer  to  the  question  as  to  what  it  was  feasible  and  practicable  to 
do  and  what  it  would  really  cost  to  do  it.  We  do  not  think  that  infor- 
mation is  available  to-day,  and  we  so  state  and  urge,  and,  if  you  choose, 
insist  upon  the  procuring  of  that  iuformation  so  far  as  it  can  be  done 
within  a  moderate  and  reasonable  time. 

Mr.  I'ATTERSON.  Do  you  feel  entirely  certain  it  can  be  built  within 
$125,000,000? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  do  not  believe  it  can. 

Mr.  Pattfrson.  Within  $1.50,000,0001 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes,  we  think  so;  as  nearly  as  we  can  form  an 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  139 

approximate  judgment,  we  think  so.  I  tliink  my  colleagues  think 
so.  We  make  a" provisional  estimate,  if  you  like,  of  $133,000,000  or 
$134,000,000. 

Mr.  Patterson.  I  think  that  is  the  amount. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  is  named  in  our  report  and  we  do  state  our  opin- 
ion that  the  canal,  not  necessarily  according  exactly  to  the  company's 
prices,  etc.,  but  that  a  canal  can  be  built  within  that  estimate,  which 
is  a  very  conservative  estimate.  I  wish  we  had  made  it  $150,000,000, 
as  I  would  feel  more  satisfied  in  ray  mind. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Do  you  think  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
could  construct  this  canal  project  over  the  route  adopted  by  the  Nica- 
ragua Canal  Company,  and  such  a  canal  as  will  be  entirely  safe  and 
suflficieut  for  commercial  purposes,  within  the  limitation  of  $150,000,000? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  think  an  answer  to  that  cau  not  be  given  until 
the  necessary  information  can  be  gained;  there  are  some  hydraulic 
data  which  nuist  be  determined  before  the  engineers 

Mr.  Patterson.  Your  investigations  have  led  you  to  agree  that  the 
route  adopted  by  the  canal  company  is  a  preferable  route? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Do  we  express  an  opinion  of  that  sort? 

Mr.  Patterson.  I  have  referred  more  to  what  has  occurred  here  in 
this  room. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  You  see  I  am  quite  ignorant  in  regard  to  that. 

Mr.  Patterson.  What  is  your  opinion  on  that  subject? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  think  there  are  better  ways  of  building  the  canal 
than  to  build  it  according  to  the  project  as  formulated  by  the  company, 
as  some  features  of  the  company's  project  are  absolutely  impracticable, 
and  I  regard  them  as  impossible. 

Mr.  Patterson.  What  features  do  you  refer  to? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Well,  the  La  Flor  Dam ;  I  believe  that  to  be  practi- 
cally impossible.     I  believe,  if  you  choose  to  speak  of  minor  matters 

Mr.  Patterson.  You  refer  to  the  La  Flor  Dam  there  [illustratingj  ? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  No  ;  it  is  on  the  west  side  here  [illustrating].  That 
is  the  worst  feature  of  the  whole  project  from  an  engineering  stand- 
point, and  the  i)roposition  to  construct  that  La  Flor  Dam  on  the  lines 
proposed  by  the  company  and  as  they  propose  to  build  it  is  to  my  mind 
impracticable.     There  is  no  foundation  there  for  the  dam. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  But  they  have  an  alternative? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes,  an  alternative,  and  quite  a  simple  and  feasi- 
ble one  of  a  low-level  canal,  an  everyday,  plain,  common-sense  canal 
which  anybody  could  build,  and  there  would  be  no  serious  difficulty  in 
constructing  it  in  that  country.  There  is  no  question  of  that,  and  the 
advantages  of  undertaking  to  build  that  Tola  Basin  by  means  of  the 
La  Flor  Dam  are  not  sufficient  in  our  judgment  to  warrant  the  expense 
and  danger  of  undertaking  to  do  it.  It  is  a  much  more  dangerous  con- 
struction, and  a  more  formidable  construction  in  some  aspects  than  the 
Ochoa  Dam,  about  which  we  would  also,  if  we  were  going  to  make  speci- 
fications to  put  it  out  to  contract,  like  to  have  further  information  and 
study. 

Mr.  Patterson.  When  you  speak  of  constructing  the  canal  within  a 
limitation  of  $150,000,000,  you  mean  a  canal  which  will  answer  for  all  the 
purposes  of  commerce? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Not  only  that.  I  mean  a  canal  that  will  answer  the 
United  States'  purposes  as  well.  I  have  always  been  under  the  impres- 
sion that  the  action  of  the  Government  in  forming  a  Government  com- 
mission to  investigate  the  scheme  had  in  view  the  propriety,  necessity 
if  you  like,  of  having  a  means  of  communication  from  sea  to  sea  for  our 


140  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

Navy,  and  it  was  with  tliat  in  our  minds  beyond  any  donbt  that  we  went 
down  to  investigate  the  pioblem. 

Mr.  Stewart.  ])o  you  think  the  canal  will  be  a  source  of  naval  weak- 
ness to  this  Government'? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  That  is  a  rather  wide  question.  I  am  not  a  naval 
expert.  If  you  want  to  take  care  of  the  canal  seriously  and  undertake 
to  control  it,  it  would  require  some  naval  force  at  both  ends  of  it. 

Mr.  Pattekson.  If  I  understand  you,  the  estimate  which  your  Com- 
mission have  phiced  upon  the  construction  of  this  canal  means  a  canal 
that  will  answer  all  purposes  of  the  Navy  as  well  as  imrposes  of  com- 
merce? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  The  two  run  side  by  side.  In  the  case  of  warships 
they  need  a  little  more  accommodation  in  the  way  of  dimensions  than 
a  purely  commercial  vessel. 

Mr.  I'ATTERSON.  A  caual  which  would  answer  the  purpose  of  the 
Government  for  naval  purposes  would  answer  all  purposes  of  commerce 
necessarily'? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Except  for  the  big  Atlantic  liners,  and  we  have 
never  taken  them  into  consideration. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Could  not  they  go  through  a  canal  where  a  battle 
ship  could  go  througli'? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Well,  they  are  longer  than  the  battle  ships,  and 
you  have  to  have  the  locks  longer  necessarily  to  take  the  liners  in. 

Mr.  Bennett.  It  is  sim])ly  a  construction  of  the  locks,  then'? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  think  so,  and  there  need  not  be  such  a  great 
expense  in  addition.  For  example,  you  need  a  lock  80  feet  wide  to  get  a 
battle  ship  through,  whereas  the  company's  proje(;t  is  70  feet,  or  rather 
the  estimate  was  for  70  feet,  although  the  ]iroject  declares  for  80. 

Mr.  Patterson.  You  are  an  Army  engineer  f 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Patterson.  What  have  been  your  opportunities  for  forming  a 
correct  estimate  of  this  kind  of  work"? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  do  not  know.  I  have  been  a  great  deal  around 
on  river  and  harbor  work  all  my  life  since  I  have  been  in  the  service. 
I  am  familiar  with  harbor  construction  and  matters  of  river  improve- 
ment and  dredging  and  contract  work  of  that  kind,  and  have  had  to  do 
with  it  ever  since  I  have  been  in  the  service  pretty  much,  in  the  con- 
duct of  light-house  work  and  things  of  that  sort. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Have  you  ever  constructed  a  canal  or  superin- 
tended the  construction  of  a  canal? 

Colonel  LuDiLOW.  No;  but  canals  are  in  that  respect  very  much  like 
railroads. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  You  are  reported  to  have  stated  that  since  your 
last  visit  abroad  you  are  more  than  ever  convinced  of  the  practicability 
of  the  Nicaragua  Canal 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Of  course  I  did  not  say  that.  It  would  have  been 
gratuitous  on  my  part  to  have  said  it  and  I  did  not. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Will  you  state  to  the  committee  what  were  the 
results  of  your  observations  abroad 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  will  tell  you,  if  you  like,  what  I  did  say.  These 
reporters  sometimes  ask  questions  not  necessarily  impertinent,  and  even 
an  English  reporter  will  occasionally  ask  you  a  question  to  which  it  is 
inconvenient  to  reply,  and  which  might  intrude  somewhat  upon  pro- 
fessional propriety.  I  was  asked  if  1  was  convinced  that  the  Nicaragua 
Canal  was  feasible.  I  told  him  I  thought  a  canal  at  Nicaragua  was 
entirely  feasible.  That  was  my  answer,  and  we  say  so  in  our  report. 
W©  think  so,  and  I  have  no  objection  to  saying  it. 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  141 

Mr.  Bennett.  Has  your  investigatiou  of  foreign  works  led  you  to 
feel  any  more  kiudly  toward  the  xv'icaragua  Caual  route 

Oolouel  Ludlow.  1  have  never  felt  any  other  than  kindly  toward  it. 

Mr.  Bennett.  Any  more  professionally 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  has  uot  aifected  my  view  of  the  physics  of  the 
Nicaragua  Canal  question,  because  there  is  nothing  in  an  engineering 
way  that  is  more  strongly  individualized  than  .ship  canals.  They  are 
classified  as  ship  canals — if  you  like,  maritime  ship  canals — but  they  are 
as  different  as  possible  in  all  their  jjcculiar  characteristics,  although  they 
belong  to  the  same  class.  You  can  go  and  investigate  the  Suez  Canal 
as  much  as  you  like,  but  you  will  get  very  few  lessons  that  would  helj) 
you  in  the  construction  of  the  Nicaragua  Canal  from  a  mere  investiga- 
tion of  the  physics  of  the  Suez  Caual. 

Mr.  Stewart.  Have  your  late  investigations  abroad  led  you  to 
change  your  report  to  the  President  in  any  respect ■? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Not  the  least  in  the  world,  except,  as  I  gave  an 
answer  to  a  question  a  little  while  ago,  that  I  rather  wish  we  had  made 
round  numbers  in  our  estimate. 

Mr.  Stewart.  What  is  your  particular  expert  objection  to  the  route 
proposed  by  Mr.  Menocal  ? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  To  the  route  or  the  construction? 

Mr.  Stewart.  To  the  construction  and  the  route. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Well,  the  La  Flor  Dam  is  impracticable. 

Mr.  Stewart.  If  that  were  modified,  do  you  consider  the  Menocal 
plan  feasible  ? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  are  not  satisfied  on  that  point. 

Mr.  Stewart.  You  have  no  objection  to  the  locks? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Except  they  are  not  large  enough.  We  think  they 
can  be  built. 

Mr.  Bennett.  It  is  a  matter  of  cost  then,  is  it  not? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  is  a  matter  of  cost,  and,  in  a  measure,  of  engi- 
neering practicability.  The  board  tried  to  be  as  conservative  and  con- 
scientious in  that  as  possible.  Now,  the  construction  of  the  Ochoa 
Ham  is  a  very  grave  cause  for  consideration.  As  proposed,  it  is  abso- 
lutely a  structure  without  any  precedent  in  engineering  work.  It  is  a 
vital  feature  of  the  canal  project,  and  upon  the  success  or  failure  of 
that  work  depends  the  integrity  of  the  navigation. 

Mr.  Stewart.  Are  not  the  chances  for  success  at  least  as  many  as 
for  failure? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  tried  to  bore  into  it  with  all  the  intelligence 
and  research  we  could  give  it  and  get  at  the  heart  of  the  problem,  and 
I  must  admit  with  practically  no  assistance  from  the  company  in  our 
investigation  of  that  subject.  They  gave  us  no  data  and  gave  us  no 
drawings;  they  gave  us  no  plan,  and  they  gave  us  no  specifications. 
We  had  to  go  to  work  and  in  our  minds  conceive  the  necessity  for  the 
construction  of  a  dam  of  that  character,  and  then  try  how  in  our  minds 
we  could  go  to  work  and  build  it,  and  you  will  find  we  endeavored  to 
set  it  forth  as  clearly  as  we  could  make  it  in  our  report.  You  will  find 
there  that  we  want  more  data  before  coming  to  a  final  conclusion. 

Mr.  Stewart.  What  portion  of  the  work  did  you  specifically  direct 
your  attention  to? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  What  work  ? 

Mr.  Stewart.  Of  the  observation  and  investigation  of  the  canal 
project? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  all  three  went  over  every  foot  together. 


142  NICARAGUA   CANAL. 

Mr.  Stewart.  But  there  was  a  portion  of  the  report  which  you  indi 
vidually  wrote,  aud  a  certain  other  portion  Mr.  Endicott  wrote 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  do  not  know  that 

Mr.  Stewart.  You  say  you  worked  in  cooperation,  but  that  you 
wrote  one  part,  and  Mr.  Endicott  wrote  another,  and  Mr.  I^oble  wrote 
another  1 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Separately"?    Not  in  the  least. 

Mr.  Stewart.  I  so  understood  you. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Every  branch  of  the  subject  in  our  investigation 
was  gone  over  by  each  in  turn. 

Mr.  Stewart.  What  branch  did  you  specifically  investigate?  That 
is  what  I  want  to  get  at. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  do  not  think  there  is  any  part  of  the  subject  I 
did  not  investigate. 

Mr.  Stewart.  As  much  in  one  direction  as  in  another? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Oh,  I  was  acting  as  chairman  of  the  board,  and 
my  time  was  taken  up  with  a  good  many  things.  I  will  say  this,  that 
there  is  not  a  point  in  the  report  that  every  one  of  us  has  not  gone  over 
carefully,  prayerfully  if  you  choose,  and  investigated.  There  has  been 
at  no  time  a  contrariety  of  opinion  in  the  board,  and  the  result  as  formu- 
lated is  one  for  which  in  every  ijart  all  three  of  us  are  collectively  and 
individually  responsible. 

Mr.  Stewart.  Well,  some  person  dictated  that  report  to  the  ste- 
nographer? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Can  you  dictate  matter  of  that  kind?  I  can  notj 
it  is  too  important. 

Mr.  S'J'ewart.  Some  i)erson  wrote  the  report? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes ;  there  were  three  persons  who  wrote  the  report. 

Mr.  Stewart.  Three  persons  could  not  write  the  same  portion  of  the 
report  in  the  same  language? 

Colonel  LuDLOM^  Why  not? 

Mr.  Stewart.  There  must  have  been  someone  who  wrote  a  part  of 
the  report,  and  you 

Colonel  Ludlow.  And  the  other  two  corrected  it. 

Mr.  Stewart.  Aud  then  the  others  approved  and  modified  it. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  All  three  of  us  wrote  it. 

Mr.  Stewart.  But  who  wrote  it  before  it  was  modified  or  corrected 
or  added  to  ? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  All  three.  Will  you  be  kind  enough  to  let  me 
know  what  this  line  of  investigation  is  leading  up  to,  as  I  do  not  see 
what  it  has  to  do  with  the  current  matter? 

Mr.  Stewart.  I  will  tell  you. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  have  no  secrets  in  the  least. 

Mr.  Stewart.  I  do  not  believe  you  have. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  am  quite  willing  to  give  every  member  of  the 
committee  all  possible  information  they  may  desire.  If  your  purpose 
was  to  ascertain  whether  this  part  and  that  part  and  the  other  part 
individual  members  of  the  board  are  individually  resi)onsible  for,  I  can 
state  there  is  no  such  part  of  the  report. 

Mr.  Sherman.  I  see  Senator  Miller  in  his  statement  before  us  takes 
issue  with  what  you  said  just  now,  that  the  Ochoa  Dam  was  without 
precedent.  Pie  says  there  are  many  such  dams  in  India  which  are  four 
to  six  times  as  long  as  that,  but  not  as  high,  and  they  are  built  in  the 
same  manner,  with  loose  stone  filled  in  Avith  clay  material,  which  makes 
them  tight. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  No^  there  is  no  comparison  between  the  twoj  you 


NICARAGUA   CANAL.  143 

can  not  compare  the  two  at  all,  as  the  physical  conditions  and  the 
nature  of  their  construction  and  the  dimensions  are  totally  different. 

Mr.  Sherman.  Is  he  wrong  in  saying  they  are  the  same  kind  of 
dams? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Oh,  quite. 

Mr.  Sherman.  Built  on  the  same  plan? 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Built  on  the  same  foundation  or  a  similar  founda- 
tion ? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Sand;  oh,  yes.  They  are  very  interesting  con- 
structions, but  they  are  built  in  the  dry,  and  they  are  built  by  hand, 
and  they  have  elevations  of  not  to  exceed  20  feet. 

Mr.  Sherman.  Not  built  in  the  dry? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes;  built  in  the  dry  season.  You  could  not  build 
them  by  hand  in  the  wet  season  with  20  feet  of  water  running  over 
them. 

Mr.  Sherman.  Are  not  the  rocks  just  dumped  in  the  river? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  No;  all  the  face  of  the  work  is  carefully  set  by 
hand,  and  there  is  masonry  in  almost  all  of  them.  Nature  turns  the 
water  off  in  the  dry  season,  you  understand. 

Mr.  Sherman.  And  there  is  no  water  when  they  build  them? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  No.  Then,  furthermore,  there  is  a  tremendous  dif- 
ference in  that  many  of  these  greater  works  are  built  with  foundations. 
They  vsink  brick  or  iron  wells  down  in  the  sand  and  fill  them  uj)  with 
concrete  and  connect  these  wells  up. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  These  are  India  dams? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes,  sir;  they  are  extraordinarily  interesting  works. 
We  call  attention  to  all  that  in  our  report. 

Mr.  Bennett.  You  questioned  the  feasibility  a  moment  ago  of  the 
Menocal  plan  for  the  construction  of  the  Ochoa  Dam.  The  Commis- 
sion made  a  suggestion  in  regard  to  the  construction  of  that  dam,  I 
beheve,  as  to  their  ideas  as  to  how  it  should  be  constructed? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  made  a  serious  endeavor  to  construct  it  in  our 
minds. 

Mr.  Bennett.  In  your  minds  you  have  succeeded,  have  you  not? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  were  willing  to  think  and  hope  we  bad,  but 
before  expressing  an  absolutely  definite  and  final  opinion  on  the 
subject  we  declared  that  we  needed  more  light. 

Mr.  Bennett.  Exactly.  Then  your  idea  of  the  construction  of  the 
Ochoa  Dam  is  that  it  is  feasible,  and  it  is  simply  a  matter  of  cost? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  state  our  belief  that  the  construction  of  a  dam 
at  Ochoa  is  feasible.     How  much  it  will  cost  we  do  not  know. 

Mr.  Sherman.  I  understand  you  now  to  say  that  the  construction 
of  the  dam  on  the  plan  of  Mr.  Menocal,  if  it  is  Mr.  Menocal's  plan,  is 
not  feasible.     Do  I  so  understand  you  ? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Well,  it  depends  upon  what  you  mean  by  plan. 
We  regard  Mr.  Menocal's  dimensions  as  totally  inadequate. 

Mr.  Sherman.  I  mean  a  dam  by  dumping  rock  in  the  river — con- 
structing a  wet  dam,  you  might  say? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  are  inclined  to  believe  that  can  be  done, 
although  it  has  not  been  done  of  any  such  nature  as  this.  We  say  so 
in  our  report. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  It  is  a  question  of  putting  in  sufficient  material  of 
proper  character? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  is  largely  that,  and  the  arrangement  of  it,  and 
particularly  we  regard  the  abutments  connecting  the  dam  with  tne 
shore,  the  point  where  the  angle  is  formed,  and  where  it  is  absolutely 


144  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

necessary  the  water  slioiikl  not  be  able  to  cut  around  the  end  of  the 
dam  and  flank  it;  we  regard  that  as  extremely  important,  and  INIr.  Meno- 
cal's  plan,  so  far  as  we  know,  did  not  provide  for  it.  The  board  tried 
to  construct  it,  you  mijiht  say,  by  sinking  caissons  there,  as  you  will  see 
by  the  report.  We  also  considered  the  great  danger  tliat  that  dam 
would  be  exposed  to  from  the  floods  of  the  river  while  it  was  under 
construction,  which  is  a  matter  of  interest  in  building  that  dam.  You 
have  a  contingency  of  six  or  seven  years  possibly 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  While  the  canal  is  being  constructed f 

Colonel  Ludlow.  While  the  dam  is  being  constructed,  and  you  have 
all  the  chances  the  river  is  going  to  give  you  in  that  interval,  and  we  do 
not  know  what  they  are. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Do  you  not  believe  a  dam  that  is  built  during  high 
and  low  water,  covering  such  a  i)eriod  of  time  as  four,  five,  or  six  years- 
that  a  dam  constructed  under  such  circumstances  nuist  stand? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  hope  in  the  ijrocess  of  the  construction  that  a 
dam  might  be  made  stable,  but  it  is  not  clear  how  it  is  to  be  done  yet; 
and  we  gave  very  careful  consideration  to  the  desirability  of  taking 
care  of  the  floods  of  the  San  Juan  River  while  that  dam  was  building, 
and  while  it  was  in  a  comparatively  unprotected  state,  until  we  could 
get  it  above  the  water  to  keep  the  floods  from  going  over  it.  Now,  I 
will  refer  to  that  point,  because  it  is  absolutely  pertinent.  You  speak 
of  plans  for  this  dam.  The  dam  is  to  be  used  as  a  weir  according  to 
the  company's  project. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  That  has  an  alternative,  too,  has  it  not? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  No;  the  company's  project  is  to  use  that  dam  as  a 
weir.  The  alternative  is  the  raising  of  the  dam  above  the  water,  and 
that  the  board  proposes. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  And  then  use  weirs  alongside  the  canal? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  use  weirs,  if  you  like,  and  if  j'ou  choose,  sev- 
eral sluices  in  the  San  Carlos  ridge  in  the  way  of  regulating  things 
there,  because  we  propose  if  we  were  to  build  that  dam  to  absolutely 
discard  the  idea  of  permitting  the  river  to  run  over  it  after  it  becomes 
a  dam. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  On  account  of  cutting  at  the  crest  of  the  dam? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  On  account  of  the  enormous  danger  of  the  floods 
of  the  river  carrying  the  dam  out  and  ruining  the  whole  navigation, 
and  allowing  the  whole  canal  to  wait  five  or  six  years  while  you  are  build- 
ing another,  to  say  nothing  of  the  damage  below  if  the  dam  should  fail. 
And  the  danger  is  not  imaginary,  it  is  a  very  real  one;  you  have  only  to 
ask  any  sound  engineer  on  that  point  and  he  will  tell  you  that  he  would 
not  permit  water  to  run  over  that  dam. 

Mr.  NooNAN.  Assuming  that  is  a  prerequisite — and  I  know  from 
experience  that  is  true — that  water  must  not  run  over  that  dam 

Colonel  Ludlow.  And  no  engineer  would  permit  it  to  do  so. 

Mr.  NooNAN  (continuing).  Isit  not  then  within  the  scope  of  engineer- 
ing science  to  make  it  so  high  and  strong  as  to  withstand  the  water? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  have  endeavored  to  do  that  in  our  report. 

Mr.  CoKLiss.  I  would  like  to  ask  you,  assuming  that  the  Government 
undertake  this  enterprise  with  all  the  necessary  means  to  i)ush  it  with 
dispatch  and  force  as  rapidly  as  it  could  be  accomplished,  how  long 
would  it  take  to  complete  the  entire  canal  ready  for  use? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Oh,  who  can  answer  that  question? 

Mr.  Corliss.  1  did  not  know  but  that  you  had  the  skill  and  knowl- 
edge and  experience  to  do  so. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Well,  I  would  be  very  glad  if  I  had,  but  I  would 
have  to  be  wiser  than  any  man  living  to  do  that. 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  145 

Mr.  Corliss.  Can  not  you  approximate  it? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes,  if  you  choose  to  answer  in  the  only  way  you 
can  answer — with  a  qualification.  The  duration  of  time  it  might  take 
to  fill  in  at  certain  places  and  cut  out  at  certain  places,  and  work 
at  certain  places  where  it  is  necessary  to  get  dredging  done,  it  will  prob- 
ably take  from  seven  to  eight  or  ten  years.  The  mischances  to  which 
you  might  be  subject  in  that  time  are  not  guessable.  If  you  have  a  dam 
half  built  and  a  flood  takes  it  away,  you  have  to  build  it  again,  and  in  all 
those  works  there  are  contingencies  of  that  kind.  The  Manchester 
Canal,  in  particular,  had  a  bitter  experience  of  that  kind. 

Mr.  CoKLiss.  How  long  were  they  in  the  construction  of  that  canal? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Oh,  several  years  longer  than  they  estimated. 
Several  times  they  were  burst  in  upon  by  floods  which  undid  their  work, 
and  where  they  had  taken  out  10,000  cubic  yards  the  flood  brought  in 
20,000  cubic  yards  and  nearly  ruined  the  contractor,  and,  in  fact,  killed 
him. 

Mr.  Stewart.  With  modifications  of  the  report,  such  as  you  indi- 
cate, would  you  advise  the  United  States  Government  to  undertake  the 
canal  at  once? 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Allowing  suflScient  time  for  gathering  together 
sufiicient  data? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  hardly  consider  my  individual  opinion  of  the 
necessity  of  doing  this  would  be  of  much  advantage  to  the  committee. 
Individually,  I  have  always  been  in  favor  of  getting  it  done. 

Mr.  Stewart.  At  once? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  You  can  not  do  it  at  once,  but,  if  you  please,  I  take 
this  view  of  it.  This  is  a  place,  as  we  state  in  the  report,  where  it  is 
not  well  to  practice  small  economies.  I  will  say  farther,  that  with  the 
exception  possibly  of  Panama  the  physical  conditions  of  Mcaragua  make 
it  one  of  the  most  formidable  and  dangerous  enteri)rises  men  have  ever 
undertaken  to  carry  out.  You  can  not  modify  those  i)hysics.  You  can 
spend  $1,000,000,000,  and  unless  you  spend  it  wisely  you  will  not  get 
through  with  that  canal. 

Mr.  Stewart.  Have  you  any  better  route  to  suggest? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  ISTot  at  all;  but  I  have  this  to  suggest,  that  before 
that  enterprise  be  entered  upon  seriously,  and  before  the  credit  of  the 
American  Government  and  the  American  people  and  American  engi- 
neers is  tied  up  to  it,  every  precaution  should  be  taken  to  see  that  the 
Panama  fiasco  is  not  repeated.  I  do  not  mean  the  Panama  robbery, 
but  I  mean  the  inadequate  engineering.  I  am  in  favor  of  investigating 
it  thoroughly  and  then  doing  it. 

Mr.  Stewart.  Are  not  the  physical  and  climatic  conditions  alto- 
gether difl'erent  in  Nicaragua  from  Panama? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  They  are  not  altogether  difl'erent.  They  are  both 
in  the  tropics,  within  a  few  degrees  of  each  other.  They  have  the  trade 
winds  more  or  less,  but  the  rainfiill  is  more  dangerous  in  Nicaragua 
than  has  been  found  on  the  line  of  the  Panama  Canal.  There  they 
undertook  to  cut  through  a  hill  without  investigating  the  material 
properly,  and  the  hill  slid  in  on  them  and  they  came  to  grief. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  In  regard  to  the  dangers  of  the  undertaking,  are 
you  considering  now  the  question  of  the  length  of  the  work,  or  do  you 
regard  the  whole  enterprise  as  having  insuperable  ditBculties? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Oh,  not  at  all;  it  would  not  be  feasible  if  it  were, 

and  we  say  it  is  feasible.     It  is  not  the  length  of  the  route  traveled 

that  is  so  important.    The  Suez  Canal  of  100  miles  had  no  engineering 

difficulties.    It  was  100  miles  of  digging  a  trench  through  sand  without 

N  c 10 


146  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

a  lock,  the  simplest  possible  caual  eugiueeriiig;  it  is  like  building  a 
railroad  on  tlie  plains. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Have  you  ever  looked  into  the  Panama  route"? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Well,  we  did. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Do  you  think  it  practicable? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  do  not  know;  the  French  engineers  who  have 
been  working  there  say  they  think  it  is,  and  we  understood  when  we 
were  there  they  expected  soon  to  publish  their  conclusions  to  thcAvorld 
and  endeavor  to  secure  the  approbation  and  approval  of  the  engineer- 
ing fraternity  as  well  as  capitalists,  but  we  did  not  examine  their  data. 
They  did  not  ofier  them  to  us  and  we  did  not  ask  for  them.  We  got 
considerable  information  on  the  subject  from  a  gentleman  there. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Have  you  ever  given  any  attention  to  the  proposi- 
tion of  constructing  a  ship  railway"? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  No,  I  have  not.  That  is  another  exceedingly  inter- 
esting matter,  but  I  have  never  looked  into  it  particularly. 

Mr.  Stewart.  Then  your  conclusion  in  regard  to  this  project  is  that 
there  has  not  been  sufficient  study  and  investigation  of  the  subject? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  That  is  at  all  events  the  judgment  of  the  board, 
that  a  more  full  investigation  should  be  had  than  has  been  given  and 
certain  aspects  of  the  canal  problem  studied,  especially  the  hydraulic 
side  of  it,  and  some  other  of  the  topographic  side,  too,  should  be  deter- 
mined, in  our  judgment. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Do  you  state  you  regard  this  work  as  feasible? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes,  we  regard  it  as  feasible. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  But  with  modifications? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  To  build  a  canal  there? 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Now,  then,  you  would  not  regard  it  as  unwise  upon 
the  part  of  this  Government,  giving  to  the  engineers  sufficient  time  for 
the  collection  of  detail  information,  to  pass  legislation  at  this  time,  if 
you  i)lease,  which  would  enable  the  Government  engineers  selected  to 
go  on  and  acquire  this  information,  and  then  when  acquired,  to  go  on 
with  the  work? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Congress  starts  in  with  these  things  sometimes,  it 
that  is  what  you  mean.  They  have  in  some  other  cases  appropriated 
liberally  in  advance,  authorizing  the  use  of  money  for  certain  purposes, 
but  usually  the  projects  have  been  very  carefully  considered. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Considering  the  difficulty,  I  mean  of  getting  the 
support  of  the  people  and  Congress  for  a  great  undertaking  of  this 
kind,  if  it  is  deemed  at  this  time  it  is  possible  to  pass  legislation  of 
this  kind,  you  would  not  deem  it  unwise  to  go  ahead  with  such  legis- 
lation as  would  secure  the  collection  of  this  information,  and,  after  the 
information  was  collected,  the  construction  of  the  work? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  am  sure  the  consideration  of  such  a  matter  by 
Congress  would  be  worth  much  more  than  what  I  could  say.  There 
are  various  branches  of  the  project  which  Congress  would  have  to  con- 
sider before  tieing  the  credit  of  the  United  States  up  in  this  matter. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  I  think  we  have  very  often  much  difficulty  in  getting 
through  necessary  legislation 

Colonel  Ludlow  (continuing).  I  think  it  is  absolutely  necessary,  if 
you  wish  and  desire  the  support  of  the  people,  to  first  command  their 
confidence,  and  present  a  project  which  shall  ajii^rove  itself  to  them, 
shall  speak  for  itself,  if  you  like.  I,  however,  do  not  want  to  commit 
Congress  upon  this.     1  am  in  favor  of  doing  it,  all  the  same. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  You  are  in  favor  of  getting  the  information  and 
(jonstructing  the  canal? 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  147 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  am  in  favor  of  getting  the  canal  tlirougli,  and 
have  been  always,  bnt  I  want  to  do  it  rigiit. 

Mr.  NooNAN.  I  understand  you  can  not  foresee  the  exigencies  which 
may  arise  in  the  construction  of  the  canal? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  No. 

Mr.  ISTooNAN.  And  that  is  the  reason  why  a  proper  estimate  can  not 
be  made  at  this  time? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  ISTooNAN.  Is  not  tliat  an  incident  to  all  great  enterprises'? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Always.  That,  even  after  you  have  made  your 
examination  as  full  and  exhaustive  as  you  can  make  it,  you  still  have 
to  allow  for  unknown  contingencies. 

Mr.  NooNAN.  The  science  of  engineering,  like  all  other  human  affairs, 
is  progressive,  and,  of  course,  we  find  men  who  are  able  to  encounter 
obstacles  which  arise. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  That  is  the  way  Americans  are  apt  to  look  at  it. 
We  built  our  Pacific  railroads  in  that  way.  We  have  great  faith  in 
our  ability  to  get  through  anything. 

Mr.  NooNAN.  You  would  at  least  rely  entirely  upon  the  judgment 
of  the  engineers  who  would  control  the  work 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Those  are  engineering  questions,  sir,  entirely. 

Mr.  Corliss.  What  fnrtlier  investigation,  in  your  judgment,  should 
be  made  by  engineers,  or  your  board,  before  this  project  should  be 
undertaken  by  the  United  States  Government? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  spent  several  very  carefully  written  pages  of 
our  report  in  stating  that. 

Mr.  Corliss.  Could  you  not  give  us  a  summary  of  it? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes,  if  you  like. 

Mr.  Corliss.  I  will  ask  you  what  investigation,  in  your  judgment, 
should  be  made  that  your  board  has  not  already  made? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Well,  we  need  a  lot  of  borings,  in  the  first  place. 

Mr.  Corliss.  How  long  would  it  take  to  complete  them? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  At  the  rate  at  which  they  are  made  down  there  I 
think  it  took  a  week  or  two  to  make  eacli  one. 

Mr.  Corliss.  How  long  would  it  take  to  do  the  borings  necessary 
for  your  board  to  determine  upon  the  question"? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  In  a  general  way,  we  estimate  we  ought  to  have  a 
year  and  a  half  or  two  years  for  that  investigation.  It  would  take  at 
least  that  long.  I  think  we  ought  to  have  said  two  years,  but  we  said 
a  year  and  a  half.  Of  course  it  is  just  a  matter  of  judgment,  and  we 
estimated  how  many  people  it  would  take,  and  what  it  would  cost,  and 
how  long  it  would  take  to  do  it;  and  as  near  as  we  could  get  at  it, 
judging  from  the  opinion  not  only  of  ourselves  but  of  men  familiar 
with  the  country,  we  consider  it  would  take  from  a  year  and  a  half  to 
two  years. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  The  cost  of  the  canal,  in  accordance  with  the  report 
of  your  Commission,  is  largely  increased  over  that  of  the  company. 
Now,  is  not  that  largely  owing  to  the  enlargement  of  the  proposed 
canal  by  the  board  and  large  increase  in  the  removal  of  material? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  That  is  part  of  it,  and  a  ])art  of  it  is  increase  in 
the  unit  prices,  and  part  increase  in  quantities,  and  part  is  correction 
of  errors  of  the  company's  computations — some  millions;  I  think 
$6,000,000  or  17,000,000. 

Mr.  DoOLiTTLL.  Is  not  this  canal,  in  accordance  with  the  project  of 
the  company,  as  large  as  any  other  canal  in  the  world  in  width? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  think,  take  it  by  and  large,  that  this  is  more 
formidable. 


148  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  I  mean  iu  width  and  dimensions. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  No,  the  canal  is  not  laid  out  on  dimensions  as 
lav.ue  as  other  canals. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLB.  What  other  canals  exceed  it  in  dimensions? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  The  Suez  is  one  with  which  comparison  is  natu- 
rally made,  beinii'  the  only  one  similar  in  character,  you  might  say,  to 
this  Nicaragua  Canal. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  J>ut  these  plans  contemplate  a  larger  plan  tlian  the 
Suez  when  it  was  completed  1 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes,  quite  true;  but  the  Suez  people  found  it  neces- 
sary to  increase  it. 

Mr.  Stewart.  Do  you  regard  Mr.  Menocal  as  a  competent  engineer? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  1  do  not  think  the  connnittee  really  would  want  me 
to  answer  that  question,  as  it  is  (piite  personal. 

Mr.  Stewart.  I  withdraw  the  (juestion. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  would  rather  you  would  not  ask  that;  but  I 
would  have  no  objection  to  answering  it, 

Mr.  Stewart.  If  your  board  had  s])ent  the  time  spent  by  Menocal 
at  Nicaragua,  would  not  you  then  feel  competent  to  express  an  oi)inion 
as  to  the  feasibility  and  i)racticability  and  possibility  of  the  route "^ 

Colonel  Ludlow.  If  we  had  spent  seven  or  eight  years,  surely.  But 
mere  duration  in  the  country  lias  not  anything  to  do  with  it;  otherwise 
you  could  get  better  information  from  a  native  than  anybody  else. 

Mr.  Stewart.  Lut  I  am  supposing  you  were  actually  engaged  iu  the 
prosecution  of  this  enterprise. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Oh,  surely ;  and  it  ought  not  to  take  as  long  as  that 
to  get  it.  We  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that  in  our  report.  We  had  sym- 
pathy and  consideration  for  Mr.  Menocal  and  everyone  else  connected 
with  the  matter.  We  had  no  antagonism  to  anybody,  and  we  have  had 
no  friction  with  the  company.     Our  relations  have  been  entirely  pleasant. 

Mr.  Stewart.  The  reason  I  asked  the  question  was  that  Mr.  Noble 
and  Mr.  Endicott  expressed  a  very  favorable  consideration  for  Mr. 
Menocal's  professional  ability. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  like  him  very  much,  but  as  to  his  professional 
ability  I  have  no  other  means  of  judging  except  by  his  work,  and  it  is 
unfair  to  have  to  condemn  a  man  as  an  engineer  because  he  has  not  been 
able  to  do  all  the  engineering  he  would  like  to  do.  1  do  object,  how- 
ever, to  the  statement  he  made  that  the  engineering  has  been  suffi- 
ciently done.  I  totally  disagree  from  that,  and  we  found  it  inexj)licable 
that  iu  all  the  time  the  company  has  spent  on  that  project — it  might  be, 
perha])S,  because  it  would  cost  a  little  more — that  they  have  not  the 
information  which  the  board  required,  and  which  I  apprehend  every 
engineer  will  require  and  will  regard  as  absolutely  indispensable. 

Mr.  Bennett.  You  said  when  you  had  completed  your  course  over 
the  route  you  were  the  only  engineers  who  had  ever  covered  the  entire 
line  of  the  canal"? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Y'^es,  sir ;  I  would  like  to  postpone  the  answer  to 
that,  because  I  would  like,  Avith  the  permission  of  the  committee,  to  say 
something  on  that  later.     It  is,  however,  (juite  true,  as  we  believe. 

There  are  some  aspects  of  this  matter  which  are  very  peculiar.  I 
have  not  had  much  time  to  go  over  this  more  recent  literature,  but  I  am 
reasonably  familiar  with  the  former  publications  on  the  canal,  and  I  do 
not  think  I  have  ever  been  more  surprised  in  my  life  than  in  reading 
this  i)amphlet  containing  the  Miller-Menocal  testimony,  of  which  I  have 
a  copy  and  which  I  s]>ent  last  evening  in  examining  and  making  notes. 
I  have  had  the  pleasure  of  meeting  Mr.  Miller,  who  is  a  very  amiable 


NICARAGUA    CANAL, 


149 


and  accoinplislied  gentleman.  I  have  always  liked  him  and  have  been 
indebted  to  him  for  courtesies,  and  I  do  not  believe  he  intends  to  impute 
anything  really  disagreeable  to  the  members  of  the  board  or  say  any- 
thing disagreeable  about  them, 

I  do  not  believe  he  intends  to  do  that  any  more  than  I  would  attempt 
to  do  it  about  him.  He  says  things  here  which  have  no  verity,  but  it 
is  quite  easy  to  see  he  has  derived  his  judgment  from  the  opinion  and 
statements  of  others,  and  not  from  his  own  knowledge.  I  do  not  sup- 
pose he  would  exi>ect  a  very  strict  examination  of  the  engineering  which 
he  has  stated  there  and  makes  points  about.  Of  course,  you  understand 
Mr,  Miller  is  not  an  engineer,  though  doubtless  learned  in  other  direc- 
tions. But  there  are  a  good  many  things  which  need  to  be  covered  in  this 
inquiry,  and  mere  personal  matters  I  would  like  to  defer,  because  there 
is  an  aspect  of  that  which  is  somewhat  serious,  and,  with  the  permission 
of  the  committee,  I  would  rather  go  over  the  technical  matters  first,  I 
have  taken  occasion  to  make  some  notes,  and  I  have  certain  data  which 
at  the  outset  I  will  endeavor  to  lay  before  you.  The  board  found,  on 
examining  the  canal  literature,  very  numeroTis  and  more  or  less  definite 
statements  with  regard  to  the  investigation  of  this  project  by  American 
and  foreign  engineers — English  engineers — sometimes  individual  engi- 
neers and  sometimes  a  board  of  engijieers. 

We  found  many  references  to  that  matter,  and  naturally  we  were 
desirous  of  knowing  what  English  and  other  engineers  had  investigated 
the  subject.  We  had  before  us  the  publications  of  the  company  and 
reports  of  the  board — a  consultation  board  in  New  York,  which  repre- 
sents an  American  board,  called  from  the  name  of  the  chairman  the 
Bogart  board.  We  had  that  before  us.  Then  it  was  determined  to  find 
out  who  these  English  people  were.  The  board  could  not  get  definite 
information  on  the  subject  either  by  inquiry  or  correspondence.  The 
board  wrote  finally  to  Mr.  Menocal  and  asked  him  who  they  were,  and 
he  stated  in  effect  he  was  not  at  liberty  to  state  what  the  reports  were, 
as  they  had  been  confidential,  and  while  he  had  been  informed  they 
were  of  a  favorable  character  he  was  not  prepared  to  furnish  them. 
Later  on  the  thing  became  more  definite. 

Presently  there  was  a  publication  by  Captain  Merry,  associated  with 
the  canal,  and  who  is  very  much  interested  and  enthusiastic  about  it, 
to  the  effect  that  there  was  an  estimate  made  by  a  board  of  English 
engineers  corroborating  Mr,  Menocal's  estimate  to  within  $000,000,  And 
Mr,  Miller,  unless  there  is  a  misprint  in  this,  has  stated  to  the  committee 
that  the  report  of  an  English  engineer  corroborated  Mr.  Menocal  within 
a  million  dollars.  Well,  we  found  the  name  of  the  engineer  to  be  Mr. 
Donaldson,  a  gentleman  formerly  connected  with  the  Manchester  Ship 
Canal  and  now  connected  with  the  London  and  East  India  Docks — a 
man  of  repute  and  consideration.  I  was  very  much  pleased  at  having 
an  opportunity  of  meeting  Mr.  Donaldson  in  London.  I  talked  to  him 
about  this  since  his  name  was  mentioned,  and  he  was  suriirised  at  the 
aspect  of  the  case  and  the  way  his  name  had  been  used.  I  will,  with 
the  permission  of  the  committee,  read  brietly  what  the  record  is  on  the 
subject.  We  wrote  first  an  official  letter  to  Mr.  Menocal,  which  is  as 
follows : 

Nicaragua  Canai.  Company,  Army  Building, 

New  Yoi'k,  October  1,  1895. 

Dear  Sir:  The  board  is  recently  in  receipt  of  copies  of  a  pamphlet  on  tlie  Nica- 
rajjiia  Canal  by  William  L.  Merry,  pnrporting  to  be  published  by  anthority  of  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce  of  San  Francisco  and  other  responsible  bodies. 

The  description  of  the  canal  is  evidently  obtained  from  the  company's  records, 
and  on  page  2G  the  following  statement  appears: 

"The  cost  of  the  canal  has  been  very  carefully  estimated  by  Engineer  Menocal 


150  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

and  by  two  boards  of  consulting  engineers,  one  in  the  United  States  and  one  in 
Kiijibuid.  Menocal  makes  a  cost  of  $65,081,176,  exclusive  of  bankers'  connnissions, 
disi.ounfs  on  securities,  and  interest  during  construction.  The  English  board  exceeds 
this  hy  $600,000,  a  remarkable  concurrence." 

Will  you  be  kind  enough  to  give  the  board  such  information  as  you  may  have  rela- 
tive to  the  composition  or  personnel  of  the  English  board  of  engineers,  to  whose 
report  reference  was  made,  the  nature  of  its  investigation  of  the  canal  project,  when 
it  was  made,  and  what  were  the  unit  prices  upon  which  the  board's  estimate  of 
$600,000,  more  or  less,  of  excess  of  the  company's  estimate  was  based? 
Very  truly,  yours, 

William  Lublow,  Chairman. 
Mr.  A.  G.  Menocal, 

Clnef  Engineer,  etc.,  Broolclyn  Navy-Yard. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  ISTow,  if  you  please,  I  will  read  Mr.  Menocal's  reply, 
and  then  I  will  read  one  more  letter,  and  that  will  close  that  part  of  it: 

United  States  Navy- Yard, 

New  Yorl-,  October  2,  1895. 

Deai{  Sir:  Referring  to  your  letter  of  the  Ist  instant,  regarding  the  statement 
contained  in  a  pamphlet  on  the  Nicaragua  Canal  published  by  William  L.  Merry,  in 
which  he  states  that  the  estimated  costof  tiie  canal  as  computed  by  a  board  of  Eng- 
lish engineers  exceeds  the  estimates  made  by  me  by  $600,000, 1  can  only  say,  in  reply 
to  your  inquiries,  that  in  my  opinion  Mr.  Merry  refers  to  the  report  made  by  Mr.  H.  F. 
Donaldson,  chief  engineer  of  the  London  and  East  India  Dock  Company,  to  the  syndi- 
cate that  employed  him  to  visit  Nicaragua  and  examine  the  route  of  the  canal,  the 
proposed  plans,  estimates,  etc.,  and  to  report  his  conclusions  thereon. 

Mr.  Donaldson  was  at  the  time  engineer  in  charge  of  a  section  of  the  Manchester 
Ship  Canal. 

He  visited  Nicaragua  with  another  engineer  of  the  Manchester  Canal  Company, 
Mr.  Gooch,  associated  with  him  in  the  investigation  in  1891,  and  inspected  the  route 
of  the  canal,  the  plans,  the  work  then  in  progress,  etc.,  spending  about  one  month 
in  the  country.  They  then  went  to  Costa  Rica  and  examined  the  location  of  a  railroad 
in  that  country,  in  the  interest  of  the  same  syndicate,  after  which  they  came  to  the 
United  States,  visited  the  Sault  Ste.  Marie  Canal,  and  spent  considerable  time  in  the 
Nicaragua  Canal  Company's  ottice  in  New  York,  examining  the  plans,  records,  etc.,  of 
the  company. 

I  am  at  liberty  to  say,  regarding  his  report,  beyond  his  unreserved  statement  to 
me  and,  I  think,  to  others  in  London,  to  the  elfect  that  he  had  fully  indorsed  the 
project  as  i)roposed  in  the  company's  plans,  and  that  his  estimate  of  cost  was  very 
close  to  the  one  made  by  me.  Whether  the  ditference  was  $600,000  or  £600,000, 1  am 
not  prepared  to  state.  His  report  is  private  ])ropert3'  of  the  syndicate  that  employed 
him,  and,  as  far  as  I  know,  has  not  been  published. 

Very  truly,  yours,  A.  G.  Menocal. 

Col.  William  Ludlow,  U.  S.  Engineers, 

Chairman  Nicaragua  Canal  Company. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  took  occasion,  in  meeting  Mr.  Donaldson  in  Lon- 
don, to  inform  liim  that  he  had  been  rather  prominently  and  authorita- 
tively quoted  as  indorsinj:?  this  project,  and  asked  him  if  he  would  let 
me  know  what  his  views  were  on  the  subject,  as  it  was  a  matter  of  great 
interest,  and  I  found  him  in  the  first  place  surprised  at  the  use  that  had 
been  made  of  his  name,  and,  in  the  second  place,  entirely  dissatisfied 
to  occupy  the  position  in  whidi  these  various  communications  put  him, 
and  he  asked  me  if  I  could  suggest  to  him  any  way  by  which  he  could 
rectify  tl)e  matter  so  far  as  he  was  concerned.  I  stated  to  him  that  he 
jiiight  write  me  a  letter  on  the  subject  if  he  chose,  and  I  would  use  it, 
officially  or  otherwise,  in  any  way  he  desired,  and  he  thougiit  that  was 
a  good  plan.     I  will  now  read  you  his  letter: 

109  Leadenhall  Street,  London,  E.  C,  April  14,  1896. 
Dear  Colonel  Ludlow:  Referring  to  our  conversation  the  other  evening,  I 
think  it  only  just  to  myself  to  draw  your  attention  oiticially  to  a  point  which  seems 
to  require  some  remarks  from  me.  I  understand  that  it  has  been  officially  intimated 
to  you  that  some  of  the  referc^nccs  in  the  Maritime  Canal  Company's  various  publi- 
cations to  the  reports,  etc.,  of  English  engineers  refer  to  the  visit  I  paid  to  Nica- 
ragua and  the  confidential  report  which  1  made  to  my  principals  on  my  return.    Were 


NICARAGUA    CANAL. 


161 


it  not  that  estimates  are  specially  dwelt  upon  in  the  publications  I  have  referred  to, 
and  that  I  understand  that  you  have  received  an  official  intimation  to  the  above 
eftect,  I  should  not  deem  it  worth  while  to  write  to  you  on  the  subject,  but  seeing 
that  I  am  represented  as  having  made  estimates  with  a  view  to  total  cost  I  would 
ask  you  to  understand  and  to  represent  my  views  of  the  case  (which  are  as  follows) 
to  your  Government. 

As  a  portion  of  my  confidential  report  it  was  part  of  my  duty  to  collect  informa- 
tion as  to  the  probable  units  of  cost  of  work  in  Nicaragua,  and  to  carry  this  into 
eflect  I  adopted,  avowedly  without  any  checkiug,  the  figures  shown,  as  the  quanti- 
ties of  work  to  be  done,  in  the  canal  report  of  1890.  For  the  purpose  of  my  report 
it  was  not  necessary  to  check  these  quantities  or  discuss  any  point  which  I  consid- 
ered, and  still  consider,  necessary  for  the  proper  completion  of  the  canal.  These 
matters  which  I  have  mentioned  may  in  some  cases  tend  to  decrease  cost,  but,  with- 
out doubt,  the  net  resiilt  would  be  a  large  increase  upon  the  total  for  a  lump-sum 
estimate.  My  rejiort  being  confidential,  I  am  unable  to  give  you  the  total  figure  I 
arrived  at,  but  even  if  I  gave  it  you  I  do  not  think  it  would  be  of  any  service,  see- 
ing that  in  many  cases  I  drew  special  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  information  was 
insufiicient,  and  that,  therefore,  I  could  do  nothing  but  take  the  units  of  cost — nota- 
bly for  the  lock  gates — which  were  shown  in  the  report  of  1890  I  have  referred  to, 
and,  moreover,  the  total  which  I  arrived  at  would  be  by  no  means  reliable  in  arriving 
at  the  total  cost  of  the  canal,  as  I  only  included  net  costs  and  allowed  practically 
nothing  for  contingencies.  Under  these  circumstances  it  appears  to  me  very  mis- 
leading to  suggest  that  any  estimating  which  I  did  can  safely  be  taken  as  a  basis  of 
my  opinion  as  to  what  the  total  cost  of  the  canal  will  amount  to,  both  on  account  of 
the  indefiniteness  already  referred  to  with  regard  to  the  locks,  and  also  to  many 
other  points  which  appear  to  me  to  require  revision. 
Yours,  faithfully, 

H.  F.  Donaldson. 

Col.  Wm.  Ludlow, 

Embassy  of  the  United  States,  London. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  You  will  observe  what  a  different  aspect  the  mat- 
ter immediately  presents  by  that  letter  submitted  to  the  committee  as 
a  part  of  the  record  at  the  request  of  Mr.  Donaldson.  He  went  down 
there  to  make  unit  prices.  He  had  no  means  of  checking  quantities, 
measuring,  or  leveling.  The  people  who  sent  him  there  wanted  to 
know  what  the  work  would  cost  per  cubic  yard,  or  mile,  or  foot.  He 
looked  over  the  project,  that  of  1890,  and  there  were  a  great  many 
things  which  he  regarded  as  of  serious  moment,  but  in  making  up  his 
unit  prices  he  took  no  account  of  these,  and  in  making  his  estimates  put 
no  allowance  for  contingencies  in  it.  I  know  otherwise  what  his  total 
is,  but  I  am  not  at  liberty  to  state  it.  It  would  not  be  satisfactory  to 
those  who  believe  that  it  is  an  indorsement  of  the  company's  iDroject 
within  a  $1,000,000,  or  $600,000,  or  £600,000. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  I  suppose  it  would  show  what  was  in  his  mind  at 
the  time? 

Mr.  Wanger.  As  to  the  unit  prices. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  And  all  the  other  matters  embraced  in  it. 

Colonel  Ludlow.   I  only  present  the  matter  in  pursuance  to  Mr 
Donaldson's  request,  and  I  have  discharged  my  duty  in  doing  it. 

Mr.  Patterson.  His  report  is  not  a  part  of  the  record? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  His  report  is  not  a  part  of  anybody's  record, 
because  it  was  made  to  his  employers,  and  as  far  as  I  am  aware  it  is 
confined  there. 

Mr.  DooLiTTEE.  Of  course,  it  may  be  easily  made  a  part  of  the 
record  before  the  committee? 

Mr.  Patterson.  I  understand  it  is  a  confidential  report. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  If  you  do,  you  will  have  to  get  it,  as  I  could  not. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  If  the  company  saw  fit  to  submit  it  we  could  get  it. 

Mr.  Patterson.  As  I  understand  it,  he  made  no  report  to  the  canal 
company,  but  made  the  report  to  his  emi^loyers  in  England. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  To  Mr.  Walker,  the  great  EugUsh  contractor  on  the 


152 


NICARAGUA    CANAL. 


Manchester  Canal,  who  I  learned  had  a  large  amount  of  canal  plant  for 
sale. 

Mr.  Joy.  Did  you  get  his  estimate? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  have  it  confidentially. 

Mr.  Joy.  Directly  from  Mr.  Donaldson  himself? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  No;  I  can  not  say  that.  I  say  I  got  it  indirectly. 
He  did  not  consider  himself  at  liberty  to  communicate  it,  and  that  is 
the  reason  he  stated  what  he  did,  and  for  the  additional  reason  that  it 
would  be  of  no  value,  which  is  a  fact,  because  it  is  a  mere  taking  of  the 
unit  prices  which  represented  the  exercise  of  his  judgment  in  the  mat- 
ter, and  a  taking  of  the  company's  quantities  which  he  did  not  seek  to 
check  and  had  no  means  of  checking,  so  he  worked  up  the  company's 
quantities  and  his  own  unit  prices  and  arrived  at  a  column  of  figures. 
Now,  you  can  add  those  up.  There  are  serious  additions  which  Mr. 
Donaldson  regarded  as  necessary  to  the  project  in  order  to  make  it 
satisfactory  as  an  engineering  project,  and  there  is  no  item  for  contin- 
gencies in  it,  as  he  only  put  in  a  few  thousand  dollars  in  order  to  make 
up  a  round  sum. 

Mr.  Joy.  Then  you  are  familiar  substantially  with  the  details  of  the 
report  made  to  his  principal? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Not  in  the  least.  I  have  not  seen  a  word  of  it,  and 
do  not  know  of  it  except  what  Mr.  Donaldson  chose  to  communicate 
to  me. 

Mr.  Joy.  I  understand  you  had  some  information  outside  of  the  letter 
you  have  read? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  have  had  some  information. 

Mr.  Joy.  Going  beyond  the  substance  of  the  letter? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  have  the  communication  of  Captain  Merry. 

Mr.  Joy.  I  mean  in  reference  to  Mr.  Donaldson's  report? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Only  what  I  got  from  a  friend  of  his  who  was  not 
aware  at  the  moment  that  Mr.  Donaldson  had  said  anything  on  the  sub- 
ject, and  he  had  not  at  that  time  in  fact.  The  only  thing  I  rest  on  in 
the  matter  is  of  course  Mr.  Donaldson's  statement  which  he  desired  to 
me  to  submit  to  the  committee  here,  or  to  my  Government,  as  he  called  it. 

Mr.  Joy.  You  have  the  statement  because  you  have  gone  considera- 
bly beyond  the  contents  of  the  letter  itself,  and  that  is  the  reason  I 
asked  if  you  had  seen  the  full  report? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  No,  sir;  personally  I  have  no  further  informa- 
tion. 

Mr.  Stewart.  Mr.  Donaldson  is  an  enthusiast  in  regard  to  the  Nica- 
ragua Canal? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Oh,  no;  he  is  not  an  enthusiast  about  anything. 

Mr.  Stewart.  But  he  is  strongly  in  favor  of  it? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  He  did  not  say  so.  All  I  talked  about  with  Mr. 
Donaldson  was  the  question  of  his  name  being  used  as  indorsing  the 
project  and  estimate,  and  I  did  not  ask  him  what  he  thought  about  the 
enterprise. 

Mr.  Joy.  You  devoted  a  considerable  portion  of  your  time  while 
abroad  in  looking  into  other  canals  and  estimating  in  view  of  this 
report? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  got  a  large  amount  of  data,  and  I  was  traveling 
and  working  all  the  time  almost,  and  accumulated  a  large  amount  of 
material;  but  I  have  not  been  able  to  sit  down  long  enough  to  look  it 
over  sufficiently 

Mr.  Joy.  Was  that  visit  for  the  purj)ose  of  making  this  investigation 
into  other  canals? 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  153 

Colonel  Lfblow.  I  had  iiistrnctioiis  from  tlie  War  Department. 

Mr.  Joy.  And  it  was  not  for  pleasnre? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  was  a  pleasure  in  one  sense,  but  it  was  very 
hard  work  in  another.     I  had  orders  from  the  Department  to  <xo. 

Mr,  Stewart.  Did  you  start  the  inquiry  in  Nicara£>na  with  any  pre- 
conceived opinion  of  the  project,  either  in  re<iard  to  the  feasibility  or 
n  on  feasibility  of  the  Menocal  route? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  thought  it  was  all  straight. 

Mr.  Stewart.  You  had  a  preconceived  opinion? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes;  if  yon  like,  in  favor  of  it. 

Mr.  Stewart.  And  in  favor  of  the  Menocal  route? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  As  I  understand  it,  the  company's  route.  I  did 
not  look  into  the  matter  as  to  who  was  individually  resiiousible  for  it. 
I  did  not  know,  necessarily,  it  was  Mr.  Menocal's  route. 

Mr.  Stewart.  Then  your  investigation  removed  that  preconceived 
opinion;  your  further  investigation  and  study  of  Nicaragua  removed 
that  jireconceived  opinion  f 

Colonel  Ludlow.  My  opinion,  if  you  like,  and  the  turn  of  my  mind 
and  my  view  of  it  were  entirely  favorable.  I  had  read  the  reports  of 
the  companj^,  in  which  it  was  stated  that  the  investigation  was  complete 
and  full  in  every  particular,  that  there  was  no  problem  left  unsolved, 
that  every  survey  had  been  nuide,  that  borings  had  been  made  the 
whole  length  of  the  canal,  and  so  on,  and  so  on;  and  I  could  not  but 
believe,  of  course,  that  the  investigation  had  been  made  as  thorough  as 
it  was  represented  to  be.     We  found  it  was  not. 

Mr.  Stewart.  During  your  investigation  did  any  hostility  in  any 
way  arise? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Kot  in  the  least.  Our  relations  were  very  jileasant, 
and  there  were  only  one  or  two  points  of  friction,  because  Mr.  Menocal 
had  one  view  about  things  and  we  had  another.  He  thought  it  would 
be  better,  for  example,  to  pursue  a  certain  course,  and  arranged  for 
taking  it  up  in  a  certain  way;  and  after  we  looked  into  the  matter  our- 
selves we  found,  from  our  point  of  view,  in  our  judgment,  it  wouhl  be 
better  to  change  this  arrangement,  and  there  was  a  little  friction  about 
that. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  This  occurred  about  the  investigation? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  And  you  came  back  more  favorably  impressed  with 
the  general  feasibility  of  the  canal  than  you  carried  with  you  when  you 
went  down  there? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  am  sorry  to  say  I  had  grave  doubts. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Of  the  whole  project— about  the  feasibility  of  it? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  About  the  whole  project. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Were  they  doubts  about  the  whole  project? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  had  great  doubts  about  the  feasibility. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Of  the  entire  project? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes. 

Mr.  NooNAN.  I  would  like  you  to  state  the  character  of  them. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Why,  there  was  the  fact  that  data  which  we 
regarded  as  indispensable  had  not  been  obtained.  We  asked  about 
this,  that,  and  the  other.  We  asked  what  were  the  floods  in  the  San 
Juan  Eiver,  etc.,  and  we  could  not  find  out. 

Mr.  Bartlett.  Mr.  Chairman,  it  is  now  12  o'clock,  and  I  move  that 
we  adjourn  until  2  o'clock  and  the  hearing  be  continued  then. 

Thereupon  the  committee  adjourned  to  meet  at  2  p.  m. 


154  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

AFTERNOON  SESSION. 
STATEMENT  OF  COL.  WILLIAM  LUDLOW— Continued. 

I  desire  to  refer  to  some  remarks  which  I  made  in  answer  to  Mr.  Doo- 
little,  and  about  which  there  may  be  some  misapprehension  as  to  what 
I  meant.  He  asked  me  as  to  my  disposition  toward  the  project  before 
going  there,  and  I  stated  that  it  was  entirely  favorable;  and  then  he 
asked  me  as  to  my  disposition  when  I  returned,  and  I  stated  that  it  was 
discouraging.  Later,  of  course,  we  had  an  investigation  in  New  York 
about  the  canal,  when  we  went  over  the  company's  data.  We  derived 
from  that  a  little  more  favorable  opinion  than  we  had  when  we  first 
came  back,  and  I  will  state  why.  We  commissioners  were  living  and 
almost  sleeping  together,  and  our  conference  was  continual.  I  speak 
of  ray  own  im})ressions,  because  I  can  only  do  that.  So  far  as  the 
company's  project  was  concerned,  I  could  not  see  any  way  by  which  the 
Ochoa  Dam  could  be  built  in  the  way  in  which  the  company  proposed 
to  build  it.  Failing  this,  if  a  site  for  a  masonry  dam  could  not  be  found, 
it  did  not  seem  practicable  to  build  a  high-level  canal  at  all.  Then  the 
alternative  would  be  to  abandon  that  and  build  a  low-level  canal  along 
the  river,  as  had  been  proposed  by  Childs  and  IaiII. 

Mr.  Meuocal's  views  upon  this  question  were  extremely  positive  that 
it  would  be  found  impracticable.  What  I  had  in  mind  to  say  was  that 
I  could  not  see  how,  with  the  Ochoa  Dam  as  projected,  we  could  build 
a  high-level  canal,  and  if  Mr.  Meuocal's  views  as  to  a  low-level  canal 
were  correct  and  there  was  no  other  alternative,  the  canal  was  not 
feasible,  but  we  found  means  later  to  reach  a  better  judgment  after  a 
fuller  examimition  of  the  whole  subject;  and  the  result  is  summed  up 
in  the  statement  made  in  the  report,  from  which  we  have  no  reason  to 
depart,  that  the  construction  of  a  canal  on  the  Nicaraguan  route  is 
entirely  feasible.  I  do  not  think  there  is  a  doubt  but  what  it  can  be 
done.  How  it  can  best  be  done  and  what  it  will  cost  remain  yet  to  be 
determined. 

I  say  this  because  in  conference  with  my  colleague  and  in  talking 
about  the  matter  we  thought  there  might  be  a  misapprehension  as  to 
what  I  intended  to  say.  I  do  not  wish  to  have  anyone  believe  that 
there  is  any  doubt  in  the  minds  of  the  board,  as  engineers,  that  the 
construction  of  a  canal  is  feasible.     I  think  it  is  certainly  feasible. 

I  have  referred,  Mr.  Chairman,  to  the  matter  of  the  references  made 
and  authorities  (pioted  as  "the  English  engineers."  I  would  like  also 
briefly  to  refer  to  the  nuitter  of  the"  board  of  American  engineers  who 
have  considered  this  subject.  We  have  a  copy  of  that  report,  which 
has  been  pul)]islied  a  long  wliile.  It  was  made  May  9, 1889,  by  a  num- 
ber of  engineers  who  sat  in  New  York  and  examined  the  canal  data 
submitted  to  them,  and  who  considered  the  subject  as  carefully  as  they 
could  from  that  standi)oint  alone,  without  a  personal  investigation  of 
the  Isthmus  or  a  visit  to  the  Isthmus,  but  from  an  examination  of  the 
company's  data  as  they  were  prepared  for  them.  The  total  estimate 
made  by  that  board  was  one-third,  or  35  ]ier  cent,  greater  than  the 
comi)any's  estimate.  In  our  report  we  did  not  refer  to  that  report, 
although  we  have  forwarded  it  as  an  api)endix  for  information.  We 
did  not  discuss  it  in  our  report,  because,  among  other  reasons,  we  did 
not  believe  that  the  r>ogart  board  had  been  fairly  treated. 

We  were  struck  with  certain  things  which  seemed  to  indicate  that 
there  had  been  some  misunderstanding,  and  to  which  I  will  call  attention 
at  another  point.    The  Bogart  board  states  that  it  has  gone  over  in 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  155 

the  usual  way  the  maps,  usinj?  the  company's  data  and,  larg^ely,  the 
company's  quantities,  althouj^h  they  make  a  considerable  difference  in 
the  estimate  of  the  work.  At  the  bottom  of  page  2  the  board  states, 
''These  locks  are  shown  by  the  borings  submitted  to  be  all  founded  on 
rode." 

The  next  publication  that  api^ears  on  the  subject  is  the  Eeport  on 
Financial  Location,  which  followed  G  months  later;  at  least  it  appears 
under  date  of  January  31,  1890.  If  you  will  look  in  that  report,  you 
will  find  that  it  is  nowhere  stated  that  any  of  the  locks  are  foundeil  on 
rock,  as  in  fact  they  are  not.  If  I  am  not  very  much  in  error,  the  best 
material  to  wliich  the  foundation  of  locks  is  attributed  in  Mr.  Menocal's 
report  of  1890  is  "solid  ground."  Evidently  the  information  given  to 
the  Bogart  board  was  seriously  incorrect  in  that  particular,  if  you 
please.  That  board  was  led  to  believe  by  the  borings  submitted  to  them 
for  their  examination  and  for  tlie  exercise  of  their  judgment  that  these 
huge  locks,  such  as  the  world  never  saw,  and  perhaps  never  will  see, 
tremendous  constructions,  were  to  be  founded  in  the  "solid  rock;''  and 
the  chief  engineer's  report,  which  followed  soon  after,  makes  no  reference 
to  that  "rock,"  but  does  to  "solid  ground." 

We  thought  the  Bogart  board  should  not  be  held  responsible  for 
their  statement,  but  they  increase  the  company's  figures  one-third,  and 
yet  the  company's  report  makes  no  use  of  those  figures.  Mr.  Menocal's 
estimate  in  1890  is  the  same  as  it  was  before,  without  paying  any  atten- 
tion to  the  recommendations  of  this  board  of  engineers,  and  it  did  not 
seem  to  me  that  it  was  altogether  a  fair  way  to  treat  the  board,  and  our 
board  did  not  undertake  to  discuss  it,  for  that  reason,  among  others. 

There  maybe  some  misapprehension  about  this,  because  the  totals  of 
this  Bogart  board  have  been  referred  to  as  being  used  by  the  company, 
and  it  is  true  in  a  sense,  perhaps,  but  not  in  a  correct  sense.  The 
Bogart  board  made  a  construction  account,  not  an  interest  account,  and 
took  no  account  of  financial  expenses.  It  is  an  engineer's  or  a  contrac- 
tor's estimate,  with  allowances  for  contingencies.  There  are  no  extra- 
neous charges  in  it.  The  company  has  used  the  Bogart  board  total,  but 
made  it  cover  financial  and  incidental  expenses  also. 

Mr.  Wanger.  I  would  suggest  that  instead  of  using  the  word  "this," 
you  designate  it  more  clearly,  so  that  the  stenographer's  notes  may 
show  it. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  That  is  quite  correct.  The  company's  estimate  is  ot 
the  same  nature,  but  they  are  engineers'  and  constructors'  accounts.  It 
is  true  the  company  used  the  figures  which  were  before  included  within 
the  additional  expenses,  and  have  gradually  arrived  at  a  probable  total 
to  include  financial  arrangements  of  perhaps  one  hundred  millions. 
But  it  put  the  Bogart  board  at  a  disadvantage.  I  trust  your  committee 
will  not  have  any  unnecessary  misapprehension  on  that  point.  I  would 
like  to  go  through  this  matter  as  fully  as  I  may,  because  I  wish  to  have 
you  understand  it  before  we  get  through.  I  have  been  going  over  the 
testimony  here  with  much  haste  and  som^amusement,  and  a  good  deal 
of  surprise.  In  the  testimony  which  has  been  given  by  Mr.  Menocal 
and  Mr.  Miller — I  will  not  criticise  Mr.  Miller,  because  I  do  not  think 
he  meant  to  be  disagreeable  in  reference  to  the  board,  but  he  does  make 
some  semifacetious  reference  to  it.  I  presume  he  intended  it  as  such, 
but  there  is  no  intention  to  hold  Mr.  Miller  responsible  for  any  engineer- 
ing data,  because  he  is  not  personally  acquainted  with  it,  and  can  not 
be;  but  he  used  the  information  very  properly  which  he  got  from  the 
engineer  and  staff"  of  the  company. 

It  struck  me  as  singular  in  looking-  at    this  that  the  difficulty 


15(j  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

eiiconiitored  at  the  outset  in  the  investigation  of  this  project  was  a 
certain  tinidity  or  ehisiveness  about  it.  We  could  not  get  statements 
jnade  at  diiferent  times  and  in  different  i)uhh(!ations  that  would  cohere. 
We  found  that  difficulty  with  reference  to  the  Ochoa  Dam.  In  the  new 
estimate  of  1805  we  find  that  the  amount  set  down  in  cubic  yards  has 
been  increased  50  per  cent  over  that  in  1890.  That  was  very  gratify- 
ing to  us,  because  it  showed  the  change  in  a  wholesome  direction,  and 
we  would  liked  to  see  that  continued,  in  a  way;  but  we  could  not  find 
anywhere  tliat  anything  was  fixed  or  settled;  there  were  no  detailed 
drawings  of  construction  anywhere  along  the  line.  There  were  no 
definite  drawings  of  the  great  locks  which  the  company  proposed  to 
bnild,  or  statement  of  the  materials  of  which  they  were  to  be  composed. 

At  one  place  it  said  they  were  to  be  built  of  concrete  and  stone 
masonry,  and  in  another  place  of  masonry  and  iron;  but  when  we  came 
to  examine  them  we  found  that  they  were  to  be  composed  exclusively 
of  six-dollar  concrete,  and  there  was  nothing  said  about  cut  stone  at 
$20  per  cubic  foot;  yet  there  was  a  disposition  to  be  accommodating. 

Then  we  found  that  a  change  at  the  last  moment  had  been  made  in 
the  site  of  ]iart  of  the  San  Francisco  embankment  line.  They  believed 
at  last  that  they  had  found  a  better  place  for  that.  They  also  moved 
the  third  lock,  coming  from  the  Caribbean  Sea  westward,  to  a  new 
site;  but  no  borings  had  been  made  to  determine  the  material.  There 
were  other  things  of  that  sort.  Everything  was  still  "  under  consid- 
eration." 

I  find  in  this  testimony  half  a  dozen  distinct  changes  in  their  propo- 
sitions. There  is  a  series  of  changes  about  tlie  project,  and  I  would 
like  to  refer  to  them  because  they  are  of  the  utmost  importance  and 
have  a  positive  bearing  upon  this  inquiry.  In  the  first  place,  we  have 
always  sui)posed  from  the  beginning,  as  you  will  see  in  our  report,  that 
the  summit  level  of  the  lake  was  to  be  held  at  a  fixed  minimum  of  110 
feet  above  sea  level.  The  depths  were  to  be  measured  below  that  level 
in  the  lake  and  river,  and  we  supposed  that  110  feet  above  the  sea  was 
the  minimum  iioint  to  which  the  lake  was  to  be  permitted  to  fall. 

Now,  we  find  the  strange  assertion  that  this  summit  level  is  not  fixed. 
We  supposed  that  110  was  the  minimum,  and  now  we  find  that  the 
lake  may  fall  below  that.  That  is  stated  since  our  report  was  made  in 
which  we  indicated  the  difficulty  of  regulating  the  summit  level;  but 
the  chief  engineer  now  says  that  after  all  it  will  be  quite  possible  to 
permit  the  summit  level  to  fall  1^  to  2  or  more  feet,  because  in  the  San 
Juan  Eiver,  where  the  channel  is  to  be  28  feet  deep,  it  can  go  back  1^ 
or  2  feet  and  still  have  28J  feet.  The  re])ort  says  this  is  sufficient  for 
a  commercial  canal. 

Furthermore,  it  is  said  that  our  naval  war  ships  are  not  intended  to 
go  through  there;  that  it  was  not  the  purpose  to  build  this  canal  for 
the  use  of  the  United  States  men-of-war  or  battle  ships  going  from  the 
Atlantic  to  the  Pacific.  We  had  been  under  a  diflerent  impression. 
We  had  been  under  the  imj^ession  that  our  vessels  were  to  go  through 
there;  but  this  is  not  to  be.  Then  what  becomes  of  the  patriotic  and 
professional  interest  sliown  in  this  matter  by  tlie  numerous  naval  officers 
Avho  have  concerned  themselves  in  this?  We  ought  to  have  30  feet  of 
water  all  throngh,  and  the  locks  ought  to  be  80  feet  wide  instead  of  70 
feet  wide.     Several  of  our  battle  ships  can  not  go  through  with  70  feet. 

JNFr.  Corliss.  In  your  estimates  you  have  provided  for  the  mainte- 
nance of  the  summit  level  at  110. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Surely;  how  could  a  ship  cross  the  Pacific,  say 
from  Shanghai,  without  knowing  how  much  water  she  would  find  to 


NICARAGUA   CANAL.  157 

cross  the  Istliinus.  Two  to  4  feet  would  make  a  great  difference.  On 
the  Great  Lakes,  li  to  4  iuclies  are  serious.  It  is  sometimes  seriously 
detrimental  to  lake  navii^atiou  if  the  depth  falls  oft'  from  li  to  -1  inches. 

As  to  the  variation  of  summit  level,  I  apprehend  no  engineer,  naval 
ofhcer,  or  shipmaster  would  regard  it  as  admissible  in  a  work  of  tliis 
kind.  I  want  to  quote  something  in  reference  to  this  as  stated  in  the 
testimony  of  the  chief  engineer  of  the  company. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Where  do  you  find  that  statement? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  is  on  page  09. 

Mr.  L>ooLiTTLE.  Is  that  the  verbal  statement,  or  the  manuscript 
statement"? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  That  is  in  the  paper.    It  says : 

The  maxiniiiiu  fluctuation  of  the  lake  level,  ;is  ucar  as  cau  be  determiuod  from  the 
iuformatiou  ohtaiuable,  is  about  10  feet. 

I  may  say  that  the  company  formerly  estimated  it  at  about  5  feet.  The 
board  were  inclined  to  believe  from  what  it  ascertained  that  the  range 
was  lli  to  14  feet.  We  were  satished  that  it  was  much  more  than  5 
feet.  This  was  hrst  ascertained  in  Mr.  Child's  surveys.  He  was  a 
very  competent  man,  and  was  the  first  one  to  note  the  liuctuation  of 
the  lake,  and  he  found  it  5  feet,  and  the  company  took  his  estimate  of 
it,  which  is  an  old  one;  but  Ave  found  it  was  12  to  14  feet,  from  the  water 
marks  on  the  banks.  It  is  now  10,  according  to  the  statement  of  the 
company.  One  level  he  disregards,  and  he  may  be  quite  right  about 
it.    Then  he  says  : 

The  flow  of  the  river  will  be  more  uuiform  by  reason  of  enlarged  sectional  area  in 
the  created  storage  reservoirs  and  lessened  fluctuations  of  lake  level ;  and  with  an 
intelligent  management  of  the  sluices  and  weirs,  at  both  the  western  and  eastern 
ends  of  the  summit  level,  there  is  no  reason  why  the  lake  should  not  be  maintained 
within  1^  feet  of  the  assumed  110-foot  level,  as  proposed  in  the  company's  plans. 

In  the  second  paragraph,  page  70,  he  says : 

The  board  attaches  considerable  importance  to  retaining  the  lake  level  at  or  above 
110,  and  believes  that  any  fall  from  tliat  level  will  be  injurious  to  uavigatiou  in  the 
river  and  canal.  There  is  no  foundation  for  that  statement.  The  canal  is  projected 
to  be,  ultimately,  30  feet  deep  throughout  from  ocean  to  ocean,  but  in  order  to  reduce 
first  cost  of  construction  tlie  river  section  and  the  sea-level  sections  of.the  canal  have 
been  estimated  with  a  dei)th  of  28  feet,  the  additional  2  feet  to  be  excavated  after  the 
canal  is  oi)en  to  traffic.  It  is  claimed  that  the  lake  level  cau  be  maintained  within  a 
range  of  3  feet,  or  within  14  feet  of  110,  and  the  board  does  not  seem  to  disjjute  it. 
Should  the  lake  fall  18  inches  below  the  110-fbot  level,  the  excavated  channel  in  the 
river  will  yet  have  a  depth  of  26]  feet,  or  6  inches  more  than  the  Manchester  and 
Suez  canals — ■ 

That  is  an  error  as  to  the  Suez  Canal — 

and  the  sections  of  canal  in  excavation  a  depth  of  28^  feet,  or  deeper  than  any  ship 
canal  in  the  workl.  That  is  to  say,  the  lake  may  fall  2  feet  below  the  assumed  sum- 
mit level,  110,  and  all  the  sections  of  the  river  and  caual  in  excavation  will  yet  reiuaia 
dee})er  than  any  otlier  canal  now  in  successful  operation,  and  there  is  no  apparent 
reason  why  tliis  canal  should  be  nuide  deeper  than  experience  has  conclusively  shown 
to  be  sufticient  elsewhere. 

The  lake,  then,  according  to  this,  may  vary  even  2  feet.  The  summit 
level  will  be  permitted  to  vary  1^  or  even  2  feet  below  the  assumed 
sunmiit  level. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLB.  Do  you  gather  from  this  statement  of  Mr.  Menocal's 
that  it  is  intended  to  permit  such  a  variation,  or  does  he  simply  mean 
that  it  may  vary  that  much  and  yet  remain  deeper  than  any  other 
canal — still  have  a  sufficient  depth  I 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  understand  that  the  supi)osition  heretofore  has 
been  that  means  would  be  taken  to  maintain  that  summit  level  at  110 
feet  or  more,  not  permitting  it  to  fall  below  110  feet.    I  say  this  idea  of 


158  NICARAGUA   CANAL. 

Mr.  Menocal's  was  an  entire  surprise  to  me,  as  it  was  to  all  of  ns.  I 
bad  a  brief  conversation  with  Mr.  Noble  in  New  York,  and  Mr.  Eudicott 
conferred  with  us  in  Washington,  and  we  all  agreed  that  was  the  lirst 
time  we  heard  of  that  proposition,  and  didn't  believe  such  a  proposition 
was  ever  heard  of  before. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Still,  no  one  would  undertake  to  say  what  was  in 
the  minds  of  those  gentlemen. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  That  is  true.  I  am  not  desiring  to  extend  my  criti- 
cisms fur  her  than  what  the  engineering  facts  woukl  warrant.  I  only 
say  no  canal  was  ever  constructed  on  that  basis.  You  observe,  then, 
that  the  navigation  ceases  to  be  a  28-foot  navigation  as  the  level  of  the 
lake  falls.  It  is  assumed  that  the  variation  of  the  lake  can  be  regu- 
lated within  3  feet.  The  board  has  serious  doubts  whether  that  is 
possible.  Although  we  had  rather  limited  material  to  work  on  in  con- 
nection with  this  matter,  you  will  find  it  argued  in  our  report.  We 
believe  that  the  regulation  of  the  level  of  the  lake  within  3  feet  is  a 
matter  of  extreme  doubt.  It  is  very  doubtful  whether  it  can  be  regu- 
lated within  that  figure.  We  do  not  know  its  maximum  range.  The 
board  measured  the  water  marks,  but  there  is  still  an  uncertainty 
about  it.    We  believe  it  varied  as  much  as  14  feet. 

Mr.  Endicott.  A  little  over  that. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Mr.  Menocal  in  his  statement  here  admits,  for  the 
first  time,  that  the  fluctuation  of  the  lake  is  about  10  feec.  Should  it 
be  10  feet,  what  then  ?  Suppose  you  can  not  regulate  it  within  3  feet. 
Suppose  you  can  not  regulate  it  within  less  than  5-feet  range.  That 
variation  has  to  take  place,  above  and  below.  You  might  stand  the 
increase,  but  can  you  stand  the  2  or  3  feet  of  loss!     I  think  not. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  At  all  events,  you  suppose  the  excess  can  be  taken 
care  of? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  No;  there  would  be  another  serious  difticulty. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  But  not  beyond  engineering  skill  to  control? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  believe  not. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  The  river  takes  care  of  it  now? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes,  with  a  lot  of  surprises  in  it. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  There  are  always  surprises  about  high  water. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  depends  upon  how  higli  you  get  it.  As  we 
measured  the  range  of  the  river  there,  the  company  assuming  a  range 
of  5  feet,  we  determined  beyond  question  that  the  river  had  risen  21 
feet,  because  the  residents  pointed  out  to  us  where  it  had  covered  the 
track  on  a  siding  on  the  bank  of  the  river  which  measured  21  feet  above 
low  river. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  That  river  does  not  rise  as  much  as  the  Ohio  Eiver? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  No. 

Mr.  Sherman.  Who  pointed  out  this  to  you  ? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  inquired  about  all  such  matters  at  every  point 
where  we  had  an  opportanity  to  make  an  investigation,  and  we  leveled 
ourselves  in  this  case  from  the  bench  marks,  you  might  call  them.  We 
would  get  the  station  master  to  indicate  how  high  ^ater  had  been 
and  make  our  measurements  accordingly.  The  station  master  would 
say,  "The  water  came  up  on  this  sill,"  and  then  we  could  estimate  how 
high  it  was.  We  did  this;  pursued  this  course  at  every  point  where  we 
could  do  so. 

Mr.  Joy.  At  what  part  of  the  river  did  you  find  that  excessive  high 
water  ? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  At  Machuca,  about  IS  miles  above  Ochoa  Dam,  at 
the  Machuca  Bapids,  upstream  toward  Lake  Nicaragua.     We  found 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  159 

elsewhere  marks  tliat  would  range  14,  15,  16,  and  18.  This  was  the 
highest  we  saw.  I  think  it  was  21  and  something.  It  was  a  great 
surprise  to  us.  We  were  not  prepared  to  find  that,  because  the  river 
had  always  been  referred  to  by  the  company  as  equable,  and  one  i^ar- 
ticular  fact  that  was  urged  was  that  it  was  not  subject  to  floods.  It 
is  declared  over  and  over  again  in  the  canal  reports  that  the  river  is 
not  subject  to  floods.     That  depends,  tlien,  on  what  you  call  a  flood. 

Mr.  Joy.  Did  that  high  water  result  from  excessive  rainfalls  or  from 
the  lake  itself? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  You  know  the  river  is  made  by  the  flow  out  of  the 
lake. 

Mr.  Joy.  But  the  rainfall  would  have  something  to  do  with  it? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Certainly;  there  might  be  a  heavy  rainfall  over 
the  lake  which  would  fill  the  Upper  San  Juan  very  full,  and  there 
might  at  the  same  time  be  a  flood  in  the  San  Carlos,  which  is  a  very 
desperate  stream  indeed  at  times,  as  is  admitted  by  everybody  who  has 
looked  at  it.  It  is  subject  to  heavy  rainfall  and  floods.  It  pours  off 
of  those  mountains  40  or  50  miles  away,  and  tears  down  with  violent 
oscillations.  That  is  the  character  of  the  San  Carlos  Eiver.  Beyond 
question,  when  you  have  high  water  in  those  two  rivers  and  they  come 
tumbling  in  you  get  a  rise.  In  the  Macbuca  Eapids  tbe  water  may 
have  risen  very  high.  It  was  dammed  uj)  there,  as  it  were.  It  may  not 
have  been  as  high  elsewhere.  I  do  not  believe  it  was.  We  do  not 
know.     We  have  not  any  figures. 

I  do  not  want  to  detain  you  on  this  point  any  longer.  Another  new 
point  is  this:  This  project  is  always  referred  to  as  having  been  fully 
worked  out — that  is,  that  the  information  is  complete;  that  all  the 
reports  are  complete.  We  find  now  for  the  first  time  that  it  is  admitted 
that  it  is  not  complete;  that  the  reports  are  not  complete,  were  not 
regarded  as  complete.  The  project  is  not  "final,"  but  " original,"  or 
"approximate,"  or  "preliminary."  Phrases  of  that  kind  are  used, 
which  shade  off  the  meaning  very  considerably.  If  the  company  had 
frankly  said  to  us,  "This  is  a  preliminary  project;  it  still  remains  to  be 
completed,  and  we  recognize  the  fact  that  there  is  much  information  to 
be  had,"  it  would  have  abbreviated  our  labors  a  great  deal,  because  we 
proceeded  on  the  idea  that  the  information  was  complete. 

The  next  point  I  was  going  to  toucli  on  I  think  must  be  a  misprint. 
Mr.  Meuocal  speaks  of  $3,000,000  as  the  estimated  cost  of  the  Ochoa 
Dam. 

Mr.  Patterson.  "Inside  of  $3,000,000"  was  his  answer. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  That  is  the  text;  but  I  was  sure  that  must  have 
been  a  misprint,  because,  if  you  will  observe,  the  company's  estimate  of 
1890  made  the  cost  of  that  dam — which  was  the  project  we  had  to  con- 
sider— $726,000.  We  had  to  consider  the  building  of  a  dam  there  for 
that  sum.  We  did  not  believe  a  dam  could  be  built  there  for  $726,000, 
whether  the  water  ran  over  it  or  under  it.  We  had  some  very  serious 
discussion  on  that  matter.  While  we  were  considering  it  last  summer, 
the  company  made  a  revision  of  its  estimates,  in  order  to  include  cer- 
tain matters,  which  had  to  be  carried  forward  into  the  total  cost,  and 
the  estimate  for  the  rock  sections  of  the  Ochoa  Dam  was  increased  50 
per  cent,  and  the  cost,  as  estimated  in  1895,  was  $977,000.  Now,  I  say 
I  could  not  account  for  the  fact  of  an  estimate,  based  on  developments 
since  last  summer,  of  a  sum  of  $3,000,^100.  That  seemed  to  be  an 
abnormal  change.  While  the  direction  of  the  change  was  wholesome, 
I  could  not  account  for  such  a  sudden  and  extensive  change. 

Mr.  Sherman.  In  your  report,  did  you  not  suggest  material  changes 
in  the  construction  of  this  dam? 


160  NICARAGUA   CANAL. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Oh,  yes;  very  grave  changes. 

Mr.  Sherman.  Possibly  Mr.  Meuocal,  in  changing  his  estimate  of  the 
cost  of  construction,  liad  in  view  the  dam  wliicli  you  proposed? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  He  comes  within  $1,()U0,0UU  of  our  estimate  now. 
We  did  not  ])retend  to  nnike  a  careful  estimate,  although  we  did  the 
best  we  could  under  the  circunjstances.  We  put  down  $4,000,000  as 
the  sum  within  which  the  dam  and  its  appurtenances  could  probably 
be  constructed.  I  did  not  understand  Mr.  Menocal's  estimate  of  some- 
thing less  than  $3,000,000.  I  thought  it  proper  to  call  the  attention  of 
the  committee  to  the  fact. 

Mr.  Wanger.  It  is  possible  that  Mr.  Meuocal  was  referring  to  the 
cost  of  one  section  in  giving  that  answer. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  The  question  was:  "At  what  do  you  estimate  the 
cost  of  the  Ochoa  Dam?"  and  Mr.  Meuocal  says,  "Inside  of  $3,000,000." 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  do  not  know  what  those  iigures  should  be.  1 
think  it  is  a  very  wholesome  approximation  to  what  may  be  the  cost 
of  that  dam.    We  estimate  it  roughly  at  $4,00(>,000. 

Mr.  Stewart.  You  started  out  by  stating  that  you  would  refer  to 
some  fiicetious  remarks  on  the  part  of  Mr.  Miller.  Now  you  have  lost 
sight  of  that  matter. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  think  not,  because  I  propose  to  come  to  it.  I  am 
much  obhged  for  your  suggestion.  I  think  what  he  said  was  intended 
to  be  facetious. 

On  the  next  page,  page  60  of  the  testimony,  Mr.  Menocal  states  it  is 
proposed  to  give  the  dam  a  base  of  about  1,000  feet.  That  again  would 
indicate  that  he  was  approaching  to  the  increased  cube  which  the  board 
has  recommended,  because  the  base  of  the  dam  as  previously  stated 
was  to  be  500  feet.     He  has  increased  that  to  1,000  feet. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Would  that  be  the  length  of  the  dam"? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Up  and  down  the  stream.  No,  the  length  of  the 
dam  across  the  stream  is  a  fixed  quantity. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Still  it  would  be  built  in  the  soil  on  each  side. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes,  it  must  be,  and  go  deeply  into  it,  with  very 
careful  protection  to  prevent  the  river  from  fiankiug  it.  That  is  the 
point  of  weakness  in  a  dam.  That  would  be  the  weak  point  in  a 
masonry  dam  as  well,  if  in  other  respects  it  was  adequate. 

There  is  another  point  I  would  like  to  refer  to.  That  is  a  proposition 
which  struck  all  the  members  of  the  board  as  entirely  novel.  It  was 
never  heard  of  before;  and  that  was  that  the  chief  engineer,  in  lieu  of 
that  La  Flor  Dam  in  the  Pacific  division,  which  the  board  regard  as 
impracticable,  and  for  which  they  would  substitute  a  common,  ordinary 
low -level  canal  in  excavation,  it  now  appears  that  another  i^roposition 
is  assumed — don't  know  when — and  that  is  that  the  question  of  build- 
ing a  low-level  dam  and  basin  has  been  worked  out.  And  atone  point 
in  the  text  our  board  is  reproached  for  having  hastily  disregarded  that 
l)roposition  altogether,  not  considered  it,  and  rejected  the  high-level 
dam,  and  adopting  the  low-level  canal,  without  regarding  this  question 
of  a  low-level  dam  at  La  Flor  and  a  low-level  basin. 

I  assure  you  that  it  is  a  question  that  is  absolutely  novel.  It  has 
not  heretofore  been  suggested,  and  it  has  not  been  thought  of  before 
so  far  as  we  know  or  can  get  any  indication  from  the  company's  reports. 
That  was  another  change  which  we,  of  course,  have  not  considered  at 
all.  I  would  not  regard  it  if  they  had,  because  there  is  no  use  running 
any  chances  on  that  western  division.  It  is  a  good,  honest  division, 
and  you  can  build  the  canal  there  beyond  qnestion,  and  to  run  into  any 
costly  or  risky  experiments  with  a  thing  of  that  magnitude  would  not 


NICARAGUA   CANAL.  161 

be  justifiable,  unless  there  was  some  adequate  compensation  for  tlie 
risk,  and  in  tliat  particular  case  the  adequate  compensation  does  not 
exist.  If  you  abandon  a  high  level  dam  you  simply  lose  4  or  5  miles 
of  basin  and  substitute  for  it  4  or  5  miles  of  an  ordinary  canal,  and  the 
disadvantage  of  doing  so  is  not  suflicient  to  warrant  you  in  taking  any 
great  risk  in  trying  to  do  the  other  thing.  That  was  the  view  the  board 
took  of  it. 

There  are  a  lot  of  references  all  the  way  through  this  testimony  of  Mr. 
Menocal  to  the  effect  that  the  ablest  engineers  of  the  United  States  and 
England  have  said  his  plans  were  practical,  and  that  the  cost  can  not 
exceed  so  and  so.  I  tliink  I  have  covered  that  sufficiently  without  add- 
ing anything  further.  We  have  looked  at  the  report  of  the  "American 
board"  and  at  the  letter  from  Mr.  Donaldson,  who,  so  far  as  we  can 
ascertain,  represents  the  "English  board."  At  any  rate,  he  does  so  iu 
Mr.  Menocal's  view. 

There  is  one  other  subject  1  would  like  to  speak  of.  It  is  the  question 
of  the  San  Juan  Kiver — the  survey  and  estimates  of  the  San  Juan  Kiver. 
The  company's  reports  allege  with  regard  to  that — make  no  excei>tion 
of  it,  at  least — that  it  has  been  thoroughly  investigated.  We  found  an 
extraordinary  discrepancy  between  our  figures,  as  we  were  able  to  nuike 
them,  and  the  company's  figures  on  that  point,  and  there  are  some 
remarkable  statements  with  regard  to  this  ujatter. 

It  was  Mr.  Miller,  1  think,  and  also  Mr.  Menocal  who  intimated  that 
we  intended  to  disparage  the  report  nmde  by  the  Lull  survey  of  1872.  I 
can  assure  you  that  nothing  was  further  from  theY>urposeof  the  board. 
TheLull  survey  exi^edition  was  a  preliminary  expedition.  Their  primary 
purpose  was  to  confirm  the  survey  made  by  Colonel  Childs  twenty  years 
before,  and  they  didnot  undertaketo  make  a  careful  instrumental  survey 
of  the  San  Juan  Ifiver.  They  measured  around  the  falls  with  transit  and 
level,  and  for  the  rest  made  a  boat  and  gradienter  survey  of  the  river, 
took  soundings  in  it,  and  determined  its  general  depths,  channels,  etc., 
and  among  other  things  got  indications  with  a  lead  of  the  nature  of  the 
bottom.  The  leadsman  called  out  "gravel,"  "sand,"  "rock," and  soon, 
as  well  as  he  could  determine.  Now,  there  has  been  no  further  investi- 
gation made  of  that  river.  The  exi^ense  of  deepening  it  is  one  of  the 
most  serious  items  in  the  entire  project,  and  the  variations  in  cost  for 
the  diiferent  sections  of  the  river  are  great. 

We  asked  the  basis  of  the  company's  estimate.  They  furnished  us 
a  profile  of  the  river — a  longitudinal  section,  if  you  like — which  they 
said  was  the  basis  for  estimating.  It  puri)orted  to  be,  as  they  believed 
it  to  be,  a  longitudinal  section  or  profile,  derived  from  the  Lull  survey. 
What  was  peculiar  about  it  at  once  was  the  fact  that  the  profile  as 
drawn  did  not  confine  itself  to  the  dej^th  of  water  and  to  the  surface 
indications,  but  penetratad  deeply  into  the  bottom  down  to  the  bed  of 
the  future  canal,  aiul  on  this  profile  were  indicated  with  ap])arently 
remarkable  exactness  all  the  various  materials  of  which  that  river  bed 
was  composed.  Now,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  there  is  not  a  particle  of 
authority  for  that  i)rofile.  The  Lull  survey  did  not  go  farther  than  the 
bottom  of  the  river.  They  did  not  attempt  to  penetrate  below  and 
ascertain  the  character  of  the  bottom,  and  nobody  has  been  there  and 
made  such  investigation  since. 

Mr,  DooLiTTLE.  Was  that  profile  presented  to  you  by  the  company? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes,  it  is  a  part  of  their  records;  and  when  you 

choose  to  examine  the  plans  and  maps  accompanying  our  report  you 

will  find  that  submitted.     They  made  no  concealment  of  it,  nor  was  there 

any  reason  why  they  should.     But  when  we  had  the  computations 

N  C 11 


162  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

checked  we  found  an  extraordinary  discrepancy  between  tlie  figures 
we  made  and  tlie  figures  tliey  made,  a  discrepancy  that  was  extraordi- 
nary and  unaccountable.  Weassunied  the  figures  given  us, aswe  always 
did  in  such  cases,  and  then  checked  them  off  and  recomputed.  We  had 
the  services  of  Mr.  Jiennett  in  this  work,  a  very  capable  and  honest 
fellow,  who  was  in  and  out  of  our  office  abnost  every  day,  going  to 
and  fro  with  tlje  maps  and  drawings  and  plans  and  really  was  at  our 
disposition,  although  his  business  was  that  of  custodian  of  the  draw- 
ings of  the  company  which  we  were  using.  In  this  case  he  went  over 
the  computation  and  confirmed  our  figures.  Then,  naturally,  we  asked 
liow  such  a  thing  hai)pened..  "Well,  there  has  been  an  error  of  some  sort, 
an  inadvertence.  It  has  been  carried  over  from  some  previous  error. 
The  curious  part  of  it  is  the  comparative  unwiilingness  of  the  company 
to  admit  that  there  was  an  error. 
On  page  71,  Mr.  Menocal  says: 

IJoiings  in  the  bod  of  the  river,  where  excavations  are  needed,  Avould  have  heeu  of 
uuicli  interest  and  ^•allle,  hnt  the  discrepancy  in  the  estimates,  due  to  the  omission 
of  such  Ijorlnj^s,  njay  b(5  sai'oly  conuteil  on  tlic  riglit  side. 

I  must  say  1  do  not  quite  understand  what  that  means,  except  that 
it  tends  to  attribute  the  errors  to  the  omission  of  borings. 

On  the  previous  page,  Mr.  Menocal  says,  at  the  bottom,  that  they 
intended  to  make  a  more  detailed  survey  of  the  river.  That  was  evi- 
dently their  purpose.     He  goes  on  to  say : 

This  omission  has  not,  however,  the  importance  attached  to  it  by  the  board. 

Because  there  was  no  question  as  to  the  entire  practicability  of  that  i>or- 
tiou  of  the  canal,  and  so  their  engineering  force  was  kept  eni])loyed  on 
other  matters — rectifying  locations,  etc. — until  the  work  Avas  susi)ended, 
and  they  found  the  river  work  undone. 

Now  I  turn  to  page  78.  It  is  rather  odd  that  this  discrepancy, 
although  referred  to  in  two  or  three  places,  has  not  at  any  other  point 
been  readily  exi)lained,  and,  curiously  enough,  you  find  the  explanation 
of  it  not  under  the  head  of  the  San  Juan  Kiver,  but  under  thu  head  of 
Lake  Nicaragua,  on  page  78,  wher«i  you  would  not  look  ibr  it,  and  it 
takes  up  half  that  page  in  a  statement  as  to  how  those  discrepancies 
occurred.     There  it  states : 

It  now  appears  that  tlirouj^h  clerical  error,  mistaken  computations,  or  misprint  in 
the  iirc]>aration  of  that  rcjiort  the  (jnantities  estimated  fall  short  of  the  actual 
UMiount  of  excavation  needed,  and  it  is  conceded  that  the  estimates  must  be  corrected 
accordingly. 

Mr.  Stewakt.  There  is  one  instance  where  he  frankly  admitted  the 
lirror? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes;  it  coidd  not  very  well  be  overlooked.  It  was 
an  error  the  correction  ol'  which  increased  the  estimate  of  rock  exca- 
vation from  about  4(H),(>00  yards  to  1,400,000  yards. 

Now,  on  pages  81  and  81!,  at  the  bottom,  Mr.  Menocal  says: 

As  regards  the  San  Juan  River,  it  has  been  stated  before  that  the  company  had  the 
free  use  of  the  surveys  made  for  the  Government  by  a  corps  of  comi)etent  officers 
under  Conmnmder  L.  P.  Lull,  United  States  Navy,  in  1872-73.  There  is  nothing  to 
suggest  the  belief  that  any  mattaial  chnnges  have  taken  place  in  the  channel  since 
that  date,  or  that  a  new  survey  untler  the  direction  of  the  board  would  add  juucli  of 
practical  value,  etc. 

In  one  place  he  admits  that  the  survey  ought  to  be  made,  and  here 
says  that  if  it  was  done  uiuler  the  direction  of  the  board  he  has  doubts 
as  to  its  value — which  might  have  been  differently  phrased.  1  believe 
that  is  as  much  as  I  care  to  say  on  that  point. 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  163 

I  have  referred,  I  think,  Mr.  Chairman,  to  the  fact  that  notwith- 
standing elaborate  surveys  and  the  amount  of  time  and  money  spent 
in  the  surveying  and  leveling  of  the  section  from  Oclioa  to  Greytown 
there  is  still  an  uncertainty  or  discrepancy  of  1  foot  in  that  leveling.  I 
do  not  know  whether  I  have  referred  to  that.  There  is  an  admitted 
uncertainty  of  1  foot  of  level  between  those  points  which  has  not  been 
satisfactorily  cleared  up  and  which  they  at  least  sought  to  amend 
by  running  another  complete  line  of  double  check  levels  from  Grey- 
town  to  Ochoa.  Mr.  Bennett  was  in  charge  of  the  work  at  the  time 
the  parties  were  hnally  Avithdrawn.  That  1  foot  nnght  make  a  great 
difi'erence — a  foot  less  depth,  for  example,  in  making  that  great  cut 
through  the  Eastern  Divide  or  in"  the  Itiver  San  Juan  would  be  a  mat- 
ter of  importance.  A  foot,  more  or  less,  would  mean  in  that  case  quite 
a  sum  of  money,  certainly  enough  to  pay  for  the  survey.  That  is 
whcje  the  advantage  of  preliminary  and  full  information  comes  in. 

I^ow,  as  to  the  doings  of  the  board  while  in  Kieanigua.  That  is  a 
matter  which  is  more  personal,  and  which  is  very  disagreeable  to  treat 
of,  Mr.  Chairman,  but  with  the  indulgence  of  the  committee  I  will 
touch  upon  it,  as  it  seems  to  be  a  necessary  point  to  si)eak  of. 

My.  Sherman.  Mr.  Endicott  went  over  that  iu  his  statement  before 
the  committee. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  And  Mr.  Koble  also  went  over  that  subject. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  am  quite  at  the  service  of  the  committee,  gentle- 
men, but  there  are  some  things  I  will  have  to  explain. 

I  hud  the  statement  in  Mr.  Menoeal's  testimony  that  we  did  not  stop 
at  the  site  of  the  Ochoa  Dam;  that  we  passed  right  by  it,  although  he 
had  prepared  a  camp  there  for  a  six  days'  stop, 

Mr.  Stewart.     They  went  over  that  matter  fully. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  If  the  committee  is  satisfied,  I  have  nothing  more 
to  say. 

The  Chairman.  Pursue  your  own  course  as  to  what  to  say. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Of  course,  I  do  not  know  what  my  colleagues 
stated,  and  am  at  a  loss  as  to  what  ground  to  cover. 

Mr.  Bennett.  Because  you  have  not  heard  them,  you  are  a  better 
witness. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  may  say,  and  I  may  not  say,  the  same  thing  that 
they  did,  but  this  ground  will  have  to  be  covered.  It  is  a  matter  which 
has  its  serious  aspect.  I  referred  brietly  to  one  or  two  things  Mr. 
Miller  said.  He  is  not  primarily  responsible  for  them,  as  he  got  the 
information  from  others.  He  states  that  from  information  from  persons 
he  believed  to  be  wholly  qualified  to  speak  the  commission  spent  only 
from  twelve  to  fourteen  days  on  or  near  the  line  of  the  canal. 

He  evidently  gets  that  from  someone  else.  I  had  an  intinuition  in 
London  before  I  came  over  here.  I  saw  a  clipping — had  arranged  to 
have  clippings  sent  on  to  me — in  which  it  was  intimated  the  company 
was  prepared  to  meet  the  report  of  the  board;  that  Mr.  JNIenocal  had 
been  keeping  a  diary  and  that  at  the  proper  time  it  would  be  shown 
what  sort  of  an  investigation  this  board  had  made;  and  I  have  been 
waiting  with  some  interest  to  hear  Avhat  those  revelations  would  be.  I 
would  briefly  state  that  the  undignified  travesty  of  the  account  of  what 
the  board  did  down  there  is  an  unfortunate  way  of  trying  to  meet  the 
force  of  the  engineering  arguments  and  statements  which  are  embodied 
in  our  report.  It  may  be  that  our  investigation  was  incomplete.  We 
know  it  was  and  said  so.  But  we  did  the  best  we  could  in  three  mouths, 
and  we  had  a  very  important  mass  of  work  behind  us,  which  is  not 
referred  to  in  Mr.  Menoeal's  statement,  and  that  is  the  three  months  of 
work  after  our  return,  iu  the  investigation  of  the  company's  data. 


164  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

Oar  trip  to  JSTicaragiia  vras  to  familiarize  ourselves  ])erso7ially  with  the 
country  and  tlie  people  and  physical  and  moral  conditions  under  which 
people  would  have  to  go  there  to  do  this  work.  Because  we  had  not 
always  lived  in  the  Tropics,  or  had  not  been  to  that  country  before,  was 
no  reason  why  we  should  not  be  good  observers,  since  we  came  from  the 
same  country  ])robably  from  which  other  i)eople  would  have  to  come  in 
order  to  inhabit  the  country  and  build  the  canal  if  it  were  to  be  built. 
Much  stress  is  laid  upon  that  point,  and  other  things  more  serious. 
Mr.  Miller  says,  for  example — it  is  facetious,  of  course — that  "I  was 
sent  abroad  to  investigate  other  canals,  and  it  would  have  been  better 
if  I  had  been  sent  abroad  first." 

Mr.  Sherman.  I  do  not  think  Mr.  Miller  was  especially  facetious  in 
anything  he  said  here. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Wasn't  he?  Personally  I  do  not  feel  offended  at 
all,  but  I  have  my  own  way  of  treating  those  questions  and  can  not 
agree  with  him.  Probably  if  I  had  been  sent  somewhere  else  some  other 
person  Avould  have  been  sent  to  Nicaragna  with  the  same  results.  I  do 
not  know  where  he  gets  his  information  about  our  spending  twelve  or 
fourteen  days  there.  He  said  we  did  not  stoi)  at  the  site  of  the  Oclioa 
Dam. 

Mr.  DooLTTTLE.  That  was  on  your  way  over,  if  I  may  correct  you. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  There  is  no  indication  of  that  in  the  testimony. 

Mr.  Uo (^LITTLE.  Mr.  Menocal's  statement  was  that  you  did  stop  on 
your  way  back. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  He  says  wo  did  not  stop  there  at  all. 

Mr.  Jov.  That  is,  he  said  you  did  not  stop  going  over. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Let  me  look  at  that.    Mr.  Miller  says,  on  page  22 : 

The  Commission  spent  from  twelve  to  fourteen  days  on  or  near  the  line  of  the  canal. 
They  never  made  any  surveys  of  any  kind.  They  never  even  stopped  at  the  site  of 
the  Ochoa  Dam,  and  of  course  the  Commission  could  not  have  made  a  survey.  They 
could  not  make  any  survey  that  would  be  of  the  slightest  use  without  two  or  three 
years'  time  with  a  corps  of  engineers. 

Now  that  is  a  definite  statement;  that  we  never  stopped  there. 

Mr.  Joy.  We  were  referring  a  moment  ago  to  Mr.  Menocal's  statement. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  That  is  from  the  record,  and  I  have  no  other  means 
of  knowing  what  was  said  than  that.  I  want  to  find  a  similar  state- 
ment by  Mr.  Menocal  and  see  if  there  is  any  qualification  in  that.  I 
know  there  was  a  qualification  in  Mr.  Menocal's  statement. 

Mr.  Corliss.  He  stated  that  on  the  return  they  stopped  several  days. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  have  not  that,  but  I  will  briefly  run  through 
those  things.  I  will  continue  with  Mr.  Miller.  1  hoped  1  bad  some 
memoranda  with  regard  to  that,  but  I  do  not  find  any. 

Mr.  Patterson  asked,  for  example,  whether  any  competent  engineer 
in  possession  of  the  maps  and  profiles  and  all  the  data  could  not  have 
made  this  investigation  and  report  as  well  in  his  oflice  in  Washington 
as  by  a  trip  to  Nicaragua.     Mr.  Miller  agreed  entirely  that  he  could. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Beginning  on  page  G2,  Colonel,  I  find  the  following: 

Mr.  DooLiTTLR.  Before  you  proceed  with  that  allow  me  to  ask  one  question.  Please 
state  about  what  length  of  time  the  engineers  spent  at  the  Oclioa  Dam,  and  tell  about 
the  examination  that  was  made  there  at  the  site  of  the  dam? 

Mr.  Menocal.  Not  any.  They  did  not  examine  the  site  of  the  dam.  They  passed 
by  it. 

Mr.  Bennett.  If  tliey  p.assed  by  such  an  important  piece  of  work,  estimated  to 
cost  millions  of  dollars,  without  investigating  it,  what  would  their  investigation 
amoTint  to? 

Mr.  Mknocai,.  I  am  not  prepared  to  answer  that.  I  can  only  say  they  passed  by 
there.  I  had  fixed  all  their  camps,  so  that  they  would  have  an  o])portunity  of  examin- 
ing the  most  important  sites,  and  one  of  the  camps  was  at  tlie  Ochoa  Dam  itself. 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  165 

Thoy  slept  here  two  niglita,  and,  as  I  said,  they  wanted  one  day  to  oxainine  the  adja- 
cent hills.  I  had  a  camp  liero  [exliihiting  on  map],  and  six  days  provisions,  and  a 
number  of  engineers.  They  arrived  in  tlie  afternoon  and  locdicd  aronnd  for  half  an 
hour  or  so  and  came  haclv  to  the  camp.  I  sent  the  boats  here  to  bring  tliem  back 
[exhibiting  on  the  luaj)],  aiid  on  the  following  day  they  found  them  here  and  brought 
them  back,  and  they  arrived  at  the  camp  about  4  o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  The 
next  morning  they  started  to  look  over  the  line  of  the  canal  and  i  ever  had  any  time 
for  an  examination  of  the  site  of  the  dam. 

Mr.  Stewakt.  Mr.  Meiiocal  says,  on  page  59,  that  tliey  landed  at 
Oclioa  in  the  afternoon  of  one  day  about  2  o'clock,  and  looked  aronnd 
a  little,  visited  the  ocean,  and  the  region  of  the  San  Carlos  Basin  south 
of  Ochoa. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  That  could  not  be  so.  I  do  not  understand  that, 
for  we  were  30  miles  from  the  ocean  one  way  and  140  the  other. 

Mr.  Stewakt.  Mr.  Menocal  says  they  s])ent  one  day  going  and  one 
day  coming  back,  and  on  the  second  day  they  arrived  and  next  morn- 
ing ran  across  to  Grey  town;  they  were  six  days  in  that  section. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes,  sir.  But  the  complete  statement,  as  made 
elsewhere,  has  no  such  qualification  in  it  whatever,  and  I  sliould  say 
that  no  one  could  read  that  statement  and  believe  the  board  made  any 
investigation  at  the  site  of  the  Ochoa  Dam. 

Mr.  Stewart.  All  the  testimony  should  be  taken  together. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  But  we  can  not  find  it  all  together,  unfortunately. 

Mr.  DooLTTTLE.  Mr.  Menocal  said  he  was  speaking  without  notes. 

Mr.  Corliss,  lie  did  not  read  any  narrative. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  If  you  will  i^ermit  me,  1  will  go  over  this  in  accord- 
ance with  my  notes.  We  will  take  the  pages  as  they  come.  There  is 
not  very  much  of  it  in  quantity,  although  there  may  be  very  nuich  in 
quality. 

Mr.  Miller's  engineering,  if  it  is  correctly  reported,  is  the  wildest  I 
have  ever  read.  He  is  an  engineer  of  great  and  varied  accomplish- 
ments. He  does  make  one  remark  which  strikes  to  where  it  belongs. 
He  says  that  anyone  can  go  along  and  note  high-water  marks  on  the 
banks.  1  suppose  everybody  Avill  agree  with  that.  The  only  thing  that 
astonished  us  was  that  the  company  had  not  done  it.  We  did  it.  Mr. 
Miller  says  the  rise  and  fall  is  5  feet.  He  has  only  to  go  down  there 
and  examine  the  banks,  and  according  to  the  least  estimate  he  will  find 
that  it  is  15  feet. 

Mr.  Bennett.  How  long  were  you  at  the  Ochoa  Ham? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Three  days. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.    Mr.  Menocal  says  that. 

Mr.  Bennett.  Have  you  notes  of  your  investigation  and  observa- 
tions? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Oh,  yes;  notes  of  everything.  Everybody  kept 
notes.  We  would  be  poor  Investigators  if  we  did  not  keep  our  notes. 
And  furthermore,  if  you  please,  the  board  took  the  trouble  to  furnish  a 
copy  of  the  minutes  of  the  board,  which  gives  our  daily  movements  and 
whereabouts,  although  not  very  fully;  we  did  not  want  to  make  it 
elaborate.  The  minutes  tell  where  we  went,  from  one  point  to  the  other. 
That  is  one  of  the  appendixes. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  we  got  there  Sunday  at  noon;  I  do  not  remember 
the  day  of  the  month.  We  landed  there  Sunday  at  noon  and  found  an 
elaborate  camp  there  ready  for  us.  The  camp  was  fixed  up  very  hand- 
somely, and  it  was  very  interesting,  being  constructed  by  the  natives 
with  wood  cut  out  of  the  forests.  There  was  not  a  nail  in  it.  It  was  a 
fine  bungalow  that  would  have  lasted  all  summer.  It  was  water-tight. 
There  were  two  or  three  of  those,  and  they  were  very  neat  in  ai)pear- 


166  NICARAGUA   CANAL. 

ance.  We  landed  and  spent  the  afternoon  in  exi^loring  the  vicinity  on 
that  side.  This  camp  was  at  the  site  of  the  dam — right  at  the  site  of 
the  dam.  We  went  over  the  hill  against  which  the  canal  abutted.  We 
went  out  on  the  crest  line  and  crossed  over  to  the  canal  line,  where  they 
were  divergent,  and  made  a  thorough  examination.  In  fact,  I  never 
did  a  harder  day's  work  than  that. 

]\Ir.  Bennett.  For  a  superficial  examination,  do  you  believe  you 
spent  all  the  time  at  the  Ochoa  Dam  that  was  necessarj'^? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  know  we  did,  and  we  did  more  than  any  one  other 
engineer  has  ever  done.  We  saw  the  whole  of  it.  The  San  Carlos 
ridge  is  a  very  important  feature,  a  very  essential  continuation  of  that 
dam.  Unless  you  go  out  on  that  ridge  and  till  up  depressions  you  can 
not  build  the  dam  at  all.     I  mean  there  would  not  be  any  dam. 

Mr.  Sherman.  You  say  you  are  the  only  engineers  that  ever  saw  the 
entire  line  of  this  canal? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  mean  the  only  ones  who  have  gone  over  the  whole 
of  it  without  any  serious  gaps  in  it. 

Mr.  Sherman.  You  mean  Mr.  Menocal  has  not  gone  over  it? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  mean,  from  information  I  regard  as  absolutely 
reliable — although,  of  course,  not  of  my  own  personal  knowledge — that 
we  took  Mr.  Menocal,  not  that  he  took  us;  that  we  took  him  over  the 
embankment  line,  which  is  the  dangerous  part  of  the  San  Francisco 
division,  through  those  dangerous  hills;  that  we  took  him  over  several 
Tiiiles  of  that  line  which  he  had  never  seen. 

Mr.  Sherman.  What  do  you  base  that  statement  on? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  On  positive  statements  from  peojile  who  knew. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Statements  from  whom? 

Mr.  Sherman.  That  is  a  very  serious  statement. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  would  like  to  supplement  it  further  by  stating 
that  according  to  the  best  of  my  knowledge  and  belief,  and  from  simi- 
lar information,  that  Mr.  Menocal  had  never  been  over  the  crest  line  ot 
the  San  Carlos  ridge.  We  went  over  that  crest  line,  and  it  was  credibly 
stated,  and  I  believe  truthfully,  that  Mr.  Menocal  had  never  been  over 
it.     I  have  no  doubt  of  that  myself. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  By  whom  was  this  statement  made? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  By  a  gentleman  who  had  been  employed  with  the 
company 

JMr.  DOOLITTLE.  What  was  his  name? 

Colonel  Ludlow  (continuing).  A  trusted  engineer,  who  remained, 
as  I  understand,  until  the  close  and  then  drifted  oft^  went  off  into  other 
employment.  We  engaged  him,  on  account  of  his  knowledge  of  the 
country  and  his  familiarity  with  it,  to  go  down  with  us  and  help  us  out. 

Mr.  J^ooLiTTLE.  Did  you  ask  Mr.  Menocal  whether  he  had  or  had 
not  been  over  this  ground? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  No. 

Mr.  Sherman.  What  was  this  engineer's  name? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Davis. 

Mr.  Sherman.  Did  he  have  some  difficulty  with  the  company? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  As  to  that,  he  may  or  may  not  have  had.  1  do  not 
know.  I  believe  they  had  some  differences  toward  the  end,  but  I  do  not 
know.  As  I  recollect  it,  he  was  retained  until  the  close,  lie  was  man- 
ager, I  understand,  of  the  steamboat  line. 

Mr.  Bennett.  Eelations  Iriendly  with  Mr.  IVrenocal? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  They  were.     I  do  not  like  this,  gentlemen. 

JVFr.  Stewart.  Were  Mr.  Davis's  relations  friendly? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  There  was  absolutely  no  indication  of  any  x)ersonal 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  167 

unfriendliness,  and  we  had  not  any,  any  more  tlian  I  referred  to  this 
morning. 

Mr.  Stewart.  Did  Mr.  Davis  express  any  hostility  to  you  to  Mr. 
Menocal  ? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  No.  You  do  not  understand  that  there  was  any 
quarrel  [addressings  Mr.  Endicott]"? 

Mr.  Endicott.  No,  I  do  not. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  I  would  like  you  to  state  to  the  committee 
whether  or  not  you  regard  that  as  a  friendly  statement  coming  from 
Davis  against  the  engineer  of  the  company. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  think  it  is  a  statement  of  fact. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  Do  you  think  it  was  a  statement  of  a  friend? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  do  not  think  it  M^as  friendly  to  do  it. 

Mr.  Stewart.  Would  you  base  your  opinion  upon  unfriendly,  hostile 
testimony? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  stated  that  was  my  belief. 

Mr.  Bennett.  Your  statement  this  morning  was  positive. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  desire,  if  you  please,  to  check  that.  It  was 
imj)ossible  that  I  should  know  it  myself. 

Mr.  Joy.  Were  these  statements  of  Mr.  Davis  made  before  you  Avent 
to  the  Isthmus"? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  No;  they  were  made  on  the  ground. 

Mr.  Joy.  And  he  was  with  you  in  your  investigation? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  Was  Mr.  Menocal  present? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  No,  I  think  not ;  it  was  in  the  camp ;  everybody 
was  there. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  Not  communicated  to  Mr.  Menocal  by  you? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  No,  sir. 

Mr.  Sherman.  Would  you  have  given  as  much  credence  to  what  he 
said  had  you  known  he  was  not  on  friendly  terms  with  Mr.  Menocal? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  don't  know.    I  believe  he  is  honest. 

Mr.  Bennett.  Would  you  have  given  as  much  credence  then? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  believed  it  then. 

Mr.  Stewart.  Did  he  speak  in  a  way  that  was  derogatory  to  him  as 
an  engineer? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  was  not  derogatory  to  his  capacity  as  an  engi- 
neer at  all.  It  would  have  been  quite  possible  that  Mr.  IVIenocal,  being 
in  charge  of  so  much  work,  should  lind  it  impracticable  to  go  over 
every  part  of  the  route  and  country  along  the  route. 

Mr.  Bennett.  Then  you  don't  consider  it  a  criticism? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  do  when  it  comes  to  criticising  us  for  not  doing  it. 

Mr.  Bennett.  You  must  be  fair. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  say  I  consider  it  a  fair  criticism  when  he  criti- 
cises us  for  not  doing  it  and  makes  a  false  assertion  in  so  doing. 

Mr.  Joy.  Where  did  you  find  Davis? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  In  Washington. 

Mr.  Joy.  You  took  him  with  you,  did  you,  from  here  to  the  scene  of 
the  operations? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes,  sir;  we  engaged  him  just  as  soon  as  I  found 
he  was  unemj)loycd,  and  that  he  had  been  down  there. 

Mr.  Stewart.  Don't  you  know  that  Davis  was  not  there  at  all  until 
1887? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  don't  know. 

Mr.  Stewart.  And  that  Mr.  Menocal  had  been  there  many  times 
before? 


168  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Oh,  yes. 

Mr.  Stewaut.  Could  lie  not  have  gone  over  this  before  Davis  had 
seen  Nicaragua,  assuming  ])avis  had  not  been  there? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Ko,  because  that  line  had  not  been  located  at  that 
time ;  he  had  not  located  that  crest  line. 

Mr.  Stewakt.  You  are  sure  of  that? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes,  sir.  It  is  all  simple  enough,  except  that  Mr. 
Menocal  travesties  the  whole  thiug;  and  if  you  will  read  his  statement 
you  will  see  that  he  M^as  trying  to  guide  us,  and  we  had  a  disi)osition  to 
wander  off  in  the  woods,  and  go  in  bathing,  etc. 

Mr.  Stewart.  Don't  you  think  it  was  your  duty,  as  a  fellow  engineer, 
to  call  to  the  attention  of  the  engineer  this  criticism  of  Davis? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  No,  sir;  I  do  not,  indeed.  It  was  Mr.  Menocal's 
own  affair  if  he  had  not  been  over  the  line.  I  fourul  no  fsiult  with  it.  I 
had  no  thought  of  making  any  such  statement  as  I  have  made  with 
regard  to  the  thing  at  all  until  I  find  lie  is  travesting  this  thing.  He  is 
undertaking  to  make  us  ridiculous  in  the  eyes  of  the  world  and  the 
engineering  fraternity. 

Mr,  Joy.  Did  Davis  give  you  his  means  of  knowledge  of  this? 

Colouel  Ludlow.  He  said  it  was  of  his  own  knowledge.  He  stated 
so  as  a  fact. 

Mr.  Joy.  And  by  that  you  understood  he  had  been  with  Mr.  Menocal 
all  the  time  on  the  line  of  the  canal? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  He  stated  as  a  fact  that  thati)ortion — I  forget  just 
where  it  was;  it  was  a  part  of  the  San  Francisco  embankment — that 
Mr.  Menocal  had  never  been  over  it  himself. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLB.  Will  you  point  that  out  on  the  map,  if  you  can 
remember  what  jiortion  of  the  line  it  was? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  was  the  embankment  line  between  the  San 
Francisco  and  the  Danta. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Between  what  points? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  The  Danta  and  the  Nicholson.  I  think  I  have  a 
note  of  it  myself  made  at  the  time;  but  I  thought  nothing  of  it,  I 
assure  you. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  What  distance  would  that  be? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  suppose  it  would  be  a  matter,  as  I  understand  it, 
of  3  miles,  or  something  like  that,  but  a  very  difficult  piece.  It  hap- 
pens to  be  a  specially  difficult  piece  of  that  country. 

Mr.  Stewart.  Did  Davis  claim  to  be  in  charge  of  that  section  when 
he  was  under  Menocal? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  don't  know.  He  was  in  their  confidence,  as  I 
understand  it,  and  their  manager. 

Mr.  Stewart.  Did  he  tell  you  he  was  in  charge  of  that  section? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  did  not  investigate  that  at  all. 

Mr.  Joy.  You  took  his  statement  without  any  investigation? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Surely;  I  simply  made  a  note  of  it, 

Mr.  Joy.  And  you  make  the  statement  here  that  you  believe  it  to  be 
true  without  making  further  examination? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Surely,  How  should  I  go  to  investigate  a  matter 
of  that  kind? 

Mr.  Joy,  There  are  several  ways — if  you  ask  me  the  question. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  still  can  be  investigated. 

Mr.  Joy.  But  you  did  not  investigate  the  statement? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Not  in  the  least. 

Mr.  Stewart.  You  would  take  Mr.  MeuocaPs  word  as  quickly  as 
Davis's,  would  you  not? 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  IHO 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Iiulividunlly,  I?    Not  at  all. 

Mr.  Bennett.  You  would  before  you  read  that  tcstimouy? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Look  liere,  gentlemen,  liasu't  the  inquiry  taken  a 
turn  which  is  extremely  unfortunate'? 

Mr.  Joy.  It  has  taken  a  turn  you  have  caused  it  to  take. 

Cohuiel  Ludlow.  You  ask  me  whom  I  would  believe 

Mr.  Bennett.  It  is  a  question  as  to  w^hat  you  say  and  w  hat  Mr. 
Menocal  says. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  No;  does  Mr.  Menocal  say  he  had  been  over  that 
l^art  of  the  line"? 

Mr.  Bennett.  We  have  been  led  to  believe  it. 

Colonel  Ludlow,  (^uite  true,  sir;  you  have  been  led  to  believe  many 
things. 

Mr.  COKLiss.  Colonel,  where  is  Mr.  Davis  now.  Where  is  he  engaged 
now  ? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  The  last  I  heard,  he  had  gone  to  Costa  Eica. 
Whether  he  is  still  there  1  don't  know.  When  we  were  down  there,  he 
said  he  was  going  to  Costa  Eica  after  he  got  through  with  his  employ- 
ment with  us.  When  he  was  in  Costa  Eica,  Mr.  Keith  was  there  and 
said  he  wanted  him  in  connection  with  some  railroad  work. 

Mr.  CoiiLiss.  He  is  not  a  Government  engineer? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Oh,  no;  he  was  formerly  in  the  employ  of  the  Dis- 
trict government  here  as  an  assistant  engineer,  1  think  in  connection 
with  sewer  work,  or  something  of  that  kind.  I  believe  the  man  to  be 
entirely  honest.  I  really  do  not  know  about  any  controversies  he  had 
with  the  company. 

Mr.  Menocal  says,  on  page  48,  that  the  Commission  was  in  Nicaragua 
altogether  about  forty  days,  which,  I  believe,.is  about  correct.  I  do  not 
remember  exactly  how  long  it  was;  the  minutes  of  the  board  will  show. 
Of  these  forty  days,  IMr.  Menocal  says,  a  total  of  tw^o  weeks,  more  or 
less,  was  spent  in  examining  the  canal  route,  or  rather  the  canal  route 
and  vicinity.  lie  says  that  some  places  they  touched  and  others  they 
did  not.  "These  gentlemen  traveled  by  the  most  comfortable  methods, 
either  through  the  woods  or  along  the  roads,  so  that  they  Avere  only  two 
weeks  examining  the  canal  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  Coast. 
They  were  detained  in  Greytown  both  on  the  arrival  and  before  leav- 
ing." He  says  we  were  only  two  weeks  examining  the  canal  from  the 
Atlantic  to  the  Pacific.  I  do  not  know  that  my  colleagues  have  covered 
this. 

Several  Members.  We  would  like  to  have  your  testimony. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  He  says  we  were  detained  at  Greytown  a  week ; 
that  they  awaited  the  arrival  of  the  steamer;  that  they  had  ordered 
their  outfit,  but  the  Connnission  arrived  before  the  steamer  containing 
the  outfit  arrived,  and  they  w^aited  a  week  for  it;  that  then  they  cleared 
out  and  went  up  the  river.  The  matter  of  fact  was  we  were  making  a 
survey  and  examination  of  the  harbor.  If  the  steamer  had  come  for 
us  before  it  did  we  would  not  have  gone.  We  w^ere  going  up  the  river, 
taking  the  steamboat  and  going  to  the  western  division  first,  right  up 
the  San  Juan,  across  the  lake,  making  our  arrangements  on  the  west 
side  of  the  lake  for  the  inspecti<ni  of  the  western  division  work,  going 
to  the  Pacific  first  and  from  there  coming  back,  so  by  that  we  w^ould 
go  to  the  farthest  i>oint  first. 

By  that  means  we  would  have  a  general  view  of  the  route  as  we 
went  over  it.  We  would  be  getting  views  of  the  country;  we  would 
be  examining  the  San  Juan  Eiver  and  the  Lake,  and  then  we  would 
work  back  over  the  route  in  detail,  foot  by  foot,  or  any  other  way  that 


170  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

seemed  necessary.  We  waited  a  week  at  Greytown,  it  is  true,  but 
while  there  we  were  doing  i)erhaps  the  most  important  work  we  had  to  do. 
The  result  of  the  work  in  Greytown  is  shown  in  our  report  under  the 
heading  "Greytown  Harbor."  That  gives  what  we  had  to  say  on  this 
subject.  We  made  an  instrumental  survey  of  tTie  entire  beach  line, 
which  had  not  been  made  before,  for  four  or  five  miles  from  Greytown 
around  the  cape  and  northward,  makiug  an  extensive  survey  there. 
Our  purpose  in  running  that  line  and  in  running  interior  lines  and  lines 
on  the  beach  was  to  enable  the  officers  of  the  Montgomery  to  make  the 
hydrographic  survey. 

The  oftshore  work  was  done  in  the  boats  while  we  were  gone.  They 
did  this,  and  it  made  a  very  valuable  chart  of  the  harbor,  quite  indis- 
pensable. That  is  the  kind  of  work  we  were  doing  while  we  were  rep- 
resented as  waiting  for  this  boat  and  clearing  (Uit  as  soon  as  we  got  it. 
The  freight  boat  came  down  pretty  soon  with  our  outfit — a  lot  of  pro- 
visions, and  instruments,  and  other  things — and  then  we  went  up  the 
river.  The  river  navigation  had  just  opened  for  the  season.  Two  boats 
came  down  together ;  one  left  on  Monday,  and  we  got  oft"  the  next  morn- 
ing, Tuesday.  We  went  uj)  the  San  Juan  River.  Mr.  Menocal  said 
we  traveled  at  night.  We  never  traveled  at  night;  we  did  not  travel 
a  single  night. 

Mr.  Sherman.  Where  does  he  say  that? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  He  says  it  somewhere.  It  is  a  hard  job  to  pick  it 
out.  I  can  find  it  if  you  desire  me  to  take  the  time.  If  you  see  it  I 
will  be  glad  to  have  you  call  my  attention  to  it.  In  the  absence  of  the 
notes  I  have  not  the  references  to  his  testimony. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  On  page  59,  Mr.  Menocal  says: 

I  must  say  that  they  ran  lines  around  Groytown  while  they  were  waiting. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  He  doesn't  say  it  here  in  the  place  I  am  referring  to. 
Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  It  says  it  on  the  next  page. 
Colonel  Ludlow.  Further  along;  yes.    He  says: 

Then  they  went  up  tlie  river  and  had  to  traTisfcr  in  the  river  from  one  steamer  to 
another  at  two  different  points. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  we  had  to  transfer  at  more  points  than  two.  He 
says  further : 

There  is  only  one  steamer  on  the  lake,  and  when  tliey  arrived  it  was  not  there,  and 
the  Coiniiiissiou  had  to  stay  two  days  waiting  for  this  steamer. 

So  far,  in  his  narrative,  we  haven't  done  an  earthly  thing  that  had 
anything  to  do  with  the  canal.     Continuing,  he  says: 

In  those  three  days  they  made  a  trip  np  the  river  running;-  south,  and  they  also  took 
a  river  steamer  and  went  out  into  the  lake  and  took  borings  and  soundings. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  we  did  more  than  that.  We  gauged  the  stream 
at  Fort  San  Carlos,  which  the  company  had  never  done.  We  made  an 
examination  of  the  Frio  Elver,  which  comes  in  in  the  immediate  vicinity 
where  the  San  Juan  exists.  We  took  great  ])ains  to  get  at  certain 
bench  marks  at  the  confluence  of  the  river  and  hike  to  indicate  where 
the  high  water  of  the  lake  had  reached. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  How  can  you  say  they  never  gauged  the  river  at 
San  Carlos? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  From  their  own  records. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Wliere  did  you  find  that  statement  that  they  never 
gauged  the  waters  of  the  river  at  San  Carlos'? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  asked  them  to  furnish  ns  with  all  the  gaugings 
they  had  made  and  they  did  so,  and  we  had  them  comi)iled  on  one  sheet. 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  171 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  You  can  not  say  positively  that  tbey  never  made 
any  such  gauginj4s'? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  ]S"o  record  of  any  such  thing  ever  reached  the  com- 
pany, if  you  please,  sir. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  You  can  state  positively  that  the  com])any  had  no 
information  as  to  the  river  at  this  point,  San  Carlos'? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  There  was  no  record  of  the  company  liaving  made 
any  survey  at  that  point.  We  asked  the  company  to  furnish  us  with 
all  the  records  of  tlio  gangings  they  had  made,  and  they  did  so,  and 
they  told  us  at  the  time  that  those  were  all  the  records  and  gaugings 
they  had. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  I  know  I  have  seen  a  statement  as  to  the  San  Carlos. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Tliat  is  the  company's  ganging  of  tlie  San  Juan, 
near  the  San  Carlos  Kiver.  Fort  San  Carlos  is  a  name  of  a  station  on 
the  river  at  the  lake 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  The  waters  of  the  River  San  Juan  have  been  gauged 
repeatedly  by  the  engineers  of  the  company? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Once. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  At  difl'erent  seasons  of  the  year"? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Once  and  once  only,  and  the  record  of  that  is 
defective  to  the  extent  that  the  level  of  the  river  when  that  gauging 
was  made  is  not  known.  It  was  not,  in  other  words,  connected  with 
the  bench  marks  so  as  to  say  the  river  was  at  vsuch  and  such  a  stage 
when  that  gauging  was  done.  If  it  was,  it  would  have  been  of  great 
value. 

Mr.  Stewart.  Mr.  Menocal  says,  on  page  60 : 

I  told  the  Commissioiiors  that  the  surveys  and  borings  had  all  been  carefully  made ; 
that  I  had  an  accurate  record  of  them  all;  tliatalarue  uuniber  of  men  were  employed 
in  the  work,  and  that  I  had  en,i>ineers  of  experience  to  cou<lnct  the  work.  I  was 
repeatedly  told  by  them  tliat  they  had  no  reason  to  doubt  the  accuracy  of  our  surveys. 
I  followed  tliem  step  by  step,  with  profiles,  and  maps,  and  jilans,  showinji'  the  results 
of  the  borings  and  surveys,  and  called  tluiir  attention  constaiitly  to  different  parts 
of  the  route  and  very  frequently  invited  tliem  to  verify  those  plans,  maps,  and 
surveys. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  were  all  going  in  a  group,  yes;  and  Mr.  Ben- 
nett went  along  and  carried  the  maps,  and  we  examined  the  ground  as 
we  went  along,  seeing  whatever  we  could. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Do  you  remember  about  the  number  of  borings  at 
OchoaDam? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Perfectly.     It  is  all  in  our  report. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Tliere  had  been  an  examination  of  that  kind  nuide, 
sir? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Why,  certainly,  they  made  some  borings  in  the 
river  bed  and  in  the  banks.     We  tiea-t  of  tliat  very  fully. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Mr.  Menocal  says  that  seventeen  borings  were  made 
there,  and  that  only  two  kinds  of  material  were  shown. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Now,  there  is  the  difficulty,  gentlemen.  The  1803 
Chicago  paper,  later  than  the  final  report  of  the  chief  engineer  in  1890, 
states  that  the  foundation  would  be  gravel,  clay,  and*rock,  in  the  order 
named.  He  says  the  borings  showed  that  as  the  foundation.  We  sup- 
posed that  was  the  case  when  we  went  tliere  to  examine  it.  The  mat- 
ter is  fully  treated  in  our  report.  The  only  borings  they  made  in  the 
river,  in  the  middle  of  the  river,  what  would  be  the  heart  of  the  dam, 
were  three  or  four  or  five,  with  an  earth  auger,  not  a  boring  in  the  sense 
of  cutting  into  the  bottom  violently.  The  borings  were  with  an  earth 
auger,  by  the  aid  of  a  pipe,  going  down  through  the  sand  in  the  river 
bed.    They  went  down  20,  22,  or  24  feet  and  the  pipe  choked,  and  they 


172  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

haclu't  any  means  of  getting  any  farther,  and  tliey  never  did  get  any 
farther;  so  all  the  information  we  have  abont  the  bed  of  the  San  Juan 
River  at  the  Ochoa  l>am  from  those  borings,  or  otherwise,  is  that  it  is 
nothing  but  sand  to  an  undttermiued  depth. 

Mr,  DooLiTTLE.  Sand,  clay,  and  gravel? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  No,  sand;  nothing  but  sand,  from  these  borings  in 
question.  They  do  not  go  far  enough  to  discover  the  deeper  material, 
and  they  never  found  any  rock  there  at  all,  although  Mr.  Meuocal  said 
he  believed  they  struck  bowlders.  That  is  rock  in  one  sense,  but  not 
in  an  engineering  sense.  The  note  book  of  the  borings  said  "  JJelieved 
to  be  rock,"  and  the  facts  were  they  were  sand  in  tlie  river  bed  and 
bowlders  in  the  banks.  And  that  made  the  problem  more  diflicult  when 
we  came  to  consider  the  question  of  the  Ochoa  Dam.  Instead  of  hav- 
ing rock  to  base  this  work  on,  there  was  an  undetermined  depth  of  sand 
there.  All  that  was  known  about  it  was  that  it  was  20  odd  feet  in 
depth,  and  what  there  was  below  that  nobody  knew.  I  observe  by  these 
papers  in  testimony  that  Meuocal  accei)ts  that  i)roposition.  But  the 
borings  had  been  already  made  sometime  before  that. 

On  page  59,  Mr.  Meuocal  says: 

I  had  instruments  at  places  to  verify  everything  and  they  had  some  also,  bnt  no 
surveys  were  made. 

He  had  instruments  at  all  places  to  verify  everything !  I  don't  know 
Avhat  that  means.  He  didu't  have  any  instruments  there  to  verify 
borings.  We  could  not  have  used  them  if  he  had.  We  had  instru- 
ments of  our  own.  I  do  not  know  whether  we  used  our  instruments  or 
his;  I  think  ours,  in  going  up  the  San  Juan  Elver,  wherever  we 
believed  information  was  to  be  obtained  we  would  check  off  on  the 
bench  marks,  aud  make  observations  in  the  vicinity  of  the  river  which 
we  regarded  as  important.  We  made  gaugings  of  the  San  Juan  River 
and  all  other  streams  at  numerous  points,  and  we  determined  the  bench 
marks — the  water  marks  on  the  bank — in  order  to  determine  what 
might  be  the  variation  of  the  river,  and  we  found  instead  of  it  being 
5  feet,  as  assumed,  it  was  not  less  than  35  feet.  In  one  place  the 
information  was  very  clear  that  it  had  risen  at  least  20  feet. 

1  do  not  want  to  go  too  far  on  this  subject.  I  came  here  at  the 
request  of  the  committee,  aud  do  not  want  to  be  tedious.  I  will  go 
over  this  journey.  We  went  uj)  the  San  Juan  River,  and  we  were 
destined  at  first  for  the  Pacific  division.  When  we  arrived  at  Lake 
Nicaragua,  we  stopped  at  San  Jorge,  which  is  a  wharf  and  landing  for 
Rivas.  We  lauded  our  party  there  in  charge  of  Mr.  Davis,  and  his 
business  was  to  collect  the  necessary  animals  for  the  use  of  the  party 
in  going  over  the  western  division.  On  that  part  of  the  route  we  could 
use  animals. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Before  you  go  into  that,  I  would  like  to  ask  you  how 
long  you  had  known  Davis  before  your  employment  of  him? 

OoJonel  Ludlow.  I  found  I  had  known  him  when  I  was  Engineer 
Commissioner  of  the  District,  and  he  had  been  employed  in  the  District 
ofiice  among  many  others. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  How  did  you  come  to  employ  him? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  thiidv  that  he  met  Mr.  Noble  or  met  me,  and 
made  some  inquiry  as  to  going  to  Nicaragua,  and  said  that  lie  would 
like  to  go, 

Mr.  Doolittle.  I  would  like  to  ask  you  a  further  question.  It  is 
this:  Do  you  knoAV  of  Davis  having  any  trouble  in  his  employment 
here — any  difficulty  here — when  he  was  in  the  emi)loymcnt  of  the  Dis- 
trict government? 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  173 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  have  never  heard  of  any  trouble  that  he  had 
here. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  I  am  informed  that  he  got  into  difliculty  when  ho 
was  here. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  don't  know  about  that.  Of  course,  if  he  did, 
there  is  a  record  of  it  now  iu  the  District  Commissioners'  ofllce. 

We  sent  the  party  to  llivas  to  make  preparations  for  the  examination 
of  the  western  division.  We  had  an  understanding  with  Menocal  that 
the  comjiany  would  use  its  provisions  for  provisioning  the  camps  on 
the  eastern  division  and  we  would  use  our  provisions  to  take  up  with 
us  and  distribute  on  the  western  division.  It  was  a  very  nice  arrange- 
ment. The  company  had  gone  to  a  great  deal  of  expense  in  making 
the  eastern  camps  and  getting  the  i^rovisions  there,  and  were  glad  to 
use  anything  we  had,  of  course,  so  we  used  what  was  needed  for  the 
western  division,  and  turned  the  balance  over  to  the  comi>any  in  part 
as  far  as  might  be  to  reimburse  them  for  the  provisions  they  had  fur- 
nished in  the  eastern  division.  We  left  everything;  turned  it  over  to 
the  company.  We  landed  our  party  at  San  Jorge  and  ourselves  went 
to  Managua.  We  went  there  to  pay  our  respects  to  the  Governnient, 
and  also  to  look  at  the  lake,  a  matter  of  40  miles,  about,  from  San  Jorge 
to  Granada.  We  went  to  Managua,  tlie  capital,  and  arrived  about  8 
o'clock  in  the  evening  on  the  same  day. 

The  President  granted  us  a  special  interview  the  next  morning  at 
9  o'clock,  and  we  had  the  honor  of  presenting  ourselves  to  his  excel- 
lency. We  took  the  return  train  at  10  o'clock  and  went  back  to  Kivas. 
Mr.  Menocal  says  we  spent  two  or  three  days  there  looking  up  horses, 
and  so  on.  We  got  to  Kivas  at  night,  and  left  the  next  morning.  We 
spent  no  time  hunting  horses.  Davis  had  taken  the  two  days  since 
we  landed  him  getting  horses.  It  would  have  been  a  serious  omis- 
sion on  our  part  if  wo  had  not  gone  to  Managua.  The  Government  had 
sent  commissioners  to  meet  us  at  Greytown.  They  had  received  us 
with  a  salute  of  eleven  guns,  and  the  commandantos  of  the  forts  and 
garrisons  called  on  us  all  the  way  across  the  Isthmus.  It  was  all  an 
evidence  of  good  will,  and  it  would  have  been  grossly  discourteous  iu 
us  had  we  not  gone  there.  It  involved  no  loss  of  time,  for  while  we 
were  taking  that  day  and  a  half  the  preparations  for  our  trip  over  the 
western  division  wore  being  made,  and  we  object  to  the  statement  of 
Mr.  Menocal,  at  the  bottom  of  page  58  of  his  testimony,  that  "in  the 
evening  they  arrived  at  Rivas,  3  miles  distant,  and  there  they  stayed 
two  or  three  days  hunting  horses  and  other  moans  of  transportation  to 
go  over  the  line  of  the  canal."  There  is  no  mistake  about  this  state- 
ment.    At  the  bottom  of  page  58  he  says : 

They  went  to  St.  George,  on  the  other  side  of  the  lake,  where  they  landed  and 
went  to  the  capital  to  visit  the  President.  Next  day,  in  the  evening,  they  arrived  at 
Rivas,  3  miles  distant,  and  there  they  stayed  two  or  three  daj'S. 

We  left  the  next  morning.  Mr,  Davis  was  down  there  making  these 
arrangements.    That  is  what  he  was  sent  there  to  do. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Don't  you  notice  Mr.  Menocal  said  that  he  was 
speaking  without  notes  ? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  decline  to  accept  that  as  an  execuse.  A  man 
before  a  tribunal  of  this  kind  should  be  lield  to  account  for  what  he 
says.  If  he  wants  to  say  those  things  he  should  first  consider  them. 
A  man  ought  to  tell  the  truth ;  I  am  not  disposed  to  be  unduly  hard 
about  this. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  It  would  not  have  been  anything  wrong  if  you  had 
remained  there  six  days.. 


174  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  No.  It  is  not  material,  except  that  Mr.  Menocal 
is  endeavoring  to  disparage  the  force  of  our  report  by  dis])araging  the 
conduct  and  efliciency  of  the  men  who  made  it,  and  to  show  that  we 
were  a  lot  of  stupid  fellows,  who  didn't  know  how  to  do  anything  and 
didn't  do  it;  whereas  we  did  know  how  and  did  do  it,  and  were  doing  it 
our  way.  And  we  are  content  to  stand  on  the  record.  When  Mr.  Meno- 
cal holds  a  comniissum  in  the  United  States  service,  and  when  he  comes 
here  or  anywhere  else  and  makes  such  assertions,  he  must  justify  his 
statements  or  withdraw  them  or  take  the  consequences. ,  This  is  not  the 
court  of  last  resort  in  this  matter.  Perliaps  I  am  in  error  in  even  dis- 
cussing this  question  before  you,  but  it  is  with  this  purpose.  I  was 
reluctant  to  believe  that  a  man  with  whom  we  had  associated — and  what- 
ever he  may  be,  however  interested  in  this  matter,  ami  however  offended 
at  what  we  may  have  to  say — should  have  made  such  a  statement.  1 
thought  that  he  would  have  recog?)ized  that  there  is  no  personal  feeling 
in  this  matter  as  far  as  we  are  concerned;  not  a  word  retlecting  ui)on 
him  in  our  report.  There  are  discrepancies — therc^  might  be  anywhere — 
but  we  would  not  necessarily  consider  a  man  a  villain  Avho  found  them. 

Mr.  ])00LiTTLE.  That  is  true  of  every  report;  all  kinds  of  engineer- 
ing work. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Is  it  not°^    Things  must  be  impersonal. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  I  say  imperfections  exist. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Surely.  And  the  longer  time  you  take  over  them 
sometimes  the  more  errors  get  in.  I  only  wanted  to  say  that  I  brought 
this  matter  up  for  this  reason.  It  is  not  a  i)ersonal  matter.  I  have  no 
controversy  with  anj^body.  We  hadn't  at  the  beginning.  We  hadn't 
while  it  was  going  on.  We  hadn't  at  the  linish.  No  friction  of  any 
kind  at  all,  until  we  are  confronted  with  this  most  extraordinary  testi- 
mony by  Mr.  Menocal  before  this  committee,  and  we  challenge  it  dis- 
tinctly. I  don't  think  I  would  have  gone  into  the  matter  in  extenso 
were  it  not  that  I  think  Mr,  Menocal  should  have  an  opportunity  of 
modifying  his  statement  before  it  goes  on  final  record.  I  venture  to 
make  that  suggestion.     It  is  in  his  interest  and  not  mine. 

Mr.  Stewart.  You  might  like  to  modify  your  statement  as  to  Mr. 
Menocal  not  going  over  the  entire  route. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Certainly,  if  I  found  myself  mistaken. 

Upon  motion,  the  committee  adjourned  to  meet  at  2  o'clock  the 
following  day. 


Committee  on  Interstate  and  Foreign  Commerce, 

Wednesday^  April  39,  1S96. 

The  Committee  on  Interstate  and  Foreign  Commerce  this  day  met, 
Hon.  William  P.  Hepburn  in  the  chair. 

STATEME]^T  OF  COL.  WILLIAM  LUDLOW— Continued. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Mr,  Chairman  and  gentlemen,  I  do  not  know  what 
indulgence  the  committee  proposes  to  give  me  to-day,  but  1  would  like 
to  make  a  brief  statement  in  regard  to  the  board,  and  then  I  would  like, 
with  the  permission  of  the  counnittee,  to  go  over  a  little  of  Mr.  JNIiller's 
testimony  again 

The  Chairman.  Pursue  your  own  course. 

Colonel  Ludlow  (continuing),  I  i)assed  over  Mr.  Miller's  engineering, 
not  considering  it  seriously,  but  I  learned  yesterday  from  a  member  of 
the  committee  that  he  considered  it  seriously;  and  as  his  and  Mr. 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  175 

Menocal's  testimony  are  to  be  taken  together,  I  would  like  to  go  back. 
I  want  to  say  first,  in  regard  to  the  attitude  of  tlie  board  in  this  matter, 
what  might  in  a  sense  be  a  repetition,  but  it  enables  me  to  state  the 
case  briefly.  We  were  ai)pointed  as  Government  ofticers  to  do  a  certaii. 
piece  of  work,  with  instructions  to  go  and  do  that  work  the  best  we 
knew  how  and  to  come  back  and  report  the  facts.  The  composition  of 
the  board  wjis  sinii)le  enough.  It  was  in  pursuance  of  the  law  which 
required  the  board  to  be  composed  of  one  officer  of  the  Engineer 
Corps  of  the  Army,  one  officer  of  the  civil  engineer  corps  of  the  Navy, 
and  one  civil  engineer.  I  was  indicated  as  the  officer  of  the  Corps  of 
Engineers  as,  I  believe,  upon  the  recommendation  of  my  chief,  although 
I  have  no  official  inforuuition  as  to  that 5  but  I  was  selected,  not 
by  reason  of  any  special  or  superior  fitness  to  anybody  else  (I  believe 
any  officer  of  the  Engineer  Corps  could  have  done  the  same  work),  but 
because  I  was  iu  London  and  semidetached,  and  1  could  be  sent  with- 
out disturbiug  the  work  going  on  in  charge  of  engineers  of  the  Army. 

The  Corps,  if  you  like,  is  i)roud  of  its  repute,  and  I  am  glad  to  believe 
has  the  confidence  of  Congress  and  of  the  country,  and  I  am  sure  no 
individual  member  of  the  Corps  could  be  more  solicitous  for  its  honor 
and  welfare  than  myself.  We  all  share  in  that,  Mr.  Endicott  is  the 
officer  who  was  selected  from  the  corps  of  civil  engineers  in  the  Navy — 
an  established  corjts  which  has  done  long  and  honorable  service.  What 
work  they  have  done  stands  of  record,  whatever  it  may  be,  and  will 
speak  for  itself.  Mr.  Noble  is  the  civilian  member  of  the  board,  and 
with  regard  to  him  perhaps  I  may  be  permitted  to  si)eak  somewhat 
more  freely.  We  were  all  three  strangers  to  each  other  when  this 
work  began.  We  met  for  the  first  time  in  Washington.  After  a  very 
intimate  and  thorough  acquaintance  night  and  day  almost  since  the 
work  began  I  can  speak  for  Mr.  Noble.  He  is  one  of  the  most  capable, 
well  informed,  resolute,  and  resourceful  men  I  know.  He  has  courage 
and  steadfastness,  and  he  is  sunlight  itself  for  honesty,  and  he  has  a 
record. 

It  is  Mr.  Noble  who,  in  conjunction  with  General  Weitzel,of  the  Army 
Engineers,  built  the  Sault  Ste.  Marie  Lock,  and  since  then  he  has  beeu 
engaged  on  other  important  works.  I  doubt  if  there  is  a  man  in  the 
body  of  civil  engineers  who  stands  higher.  He  built  the  Memphis 
Bridge,  one  of  the  most  extraordinary  and  monumental  pieces  of  engi- 
neering done  in  this"country,  and  the  engineers  recognize  him  as  the 
man  who  did  it.  He  was  there  in  the  actual  construction  of  the  work. 
I  may  say,  further,  he  is  gifted  with  an  inveterate  modesty,  and  you  have 
to  discover  his  merits  for  yourself.  That  is  the  composition  of  the  board. 
Now  I  will  say,  further,  I  do  not  believe  that  three  men  ever  did  more 
and  harder  work  in  the  same  length  of  time  than  we  did,  I  know  I 
never  did,  and  I  have  worked  pretty  hard,  too.  It  was  a  most  difficult 
work.  We  understood  the  difficulty  and  importance  of  it.  It  was  a 
work  of  world-wide  interest,  and  whatever  we  did,  and  whatever  con- 
clusion we  came  to  or  opinion  we  formed  would  be  challenged  and 
criticised  and  read  from  one  end  of  the  world  to  the  other  by  every 
engineer  who  had  any  knowledge  of  such  matters  at  home  and  abroad. 

We  were  acting,  therefore,  under  a  sense  of  responsibility  of  Avhose 
weight  we  were  fully  conscious,  not  to  say  of  what  might  ultimately  be 
the  danger  of  this  investigation  when  it  came  to  further  developments. 
Now,  we  go  down  and  spend  three  months  on  the  Istlunus  and  three 
months  in  New  York  investigating  the  office  data,  and  we  make  a  rei)ort. 
I  venture  to  say  that  anyone  who  will  read  that  report  will  a])preciate, 
at  any  rate,  the  very  laboric^is  and  sincere  endeavoj-  to  ascertain  all  we 


176  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

could  about  tliis  project  and  about  the  conditions,  and  if  yon  g"ive  the 
engineers  of  the  country  a  chance  to  read  the  report,  and  witli  the 
appendixes  and  pLans  which  are  necessary  for  its  intelligent  coTisidera- 
tion.  I  believe  we  shall  find  our  own  confidence  in  the  integrity  of  our 
work  confirmed  by  the  judgment  of  every  competent  engineer  in  the 
country.     That,  of  course,  Ave  believe,  because  we  did  our  best. 

We  are  not  infallible,  and  may  have  made  mistakes,  but  we  tried  to 
avoid  them,  although  there  were  pitfalls  at  every  side.  Then,  to  do  this 
amount  of  work  which  we  did,  and  to  have  it  said  in  the  testimony 
given  before  this  committee  by  Mr.  Miller  and  Mr.  Menocal  for  tlie  pur- 
pose of  cheapening  it.  What  did  we  do?  that  we  wandered  around  the 
country  looking-  at  parrots  and  monkeys,  that  Ave  Avere  enraptured  Avith 
the  novelty  of  the  surroundings;  and  I  find  Ave  traveled  in  the  most 
comfortable  manner.  We  tiaveled  the  only  route  there  was.  You 
either  go  in  a  steamboat  up  the  San  Juan  Kiver  or  you  travel  on  foot, 
and  Ave  did  both.  This  Avandering  through  shady  paths,  you  under- 
stand, meant  traveling  through  tropical  forests,  climbing  steep  clay 
hills,  and  Avading  swamps  uj*  to  onr  necks  in  Avater;  and  tliere  was  not 
a  day  Avhile  Ave  Avere  on  the  isthmus,  except  when  Ave  Avere  asleep,  that 
Ave  Avere  not  engaged  mentally  and  physically  in  the  investigation  of 
this  problem,  and  I  feel  free  to  say,  and  I  believe  I  will  be  justified  in 
saying,  that  no  matter  how  that  rei)ort  may  be  criticised  it  Avill  prove 
itself  to  be  a  more  fruitful  source  of  information  and  suggestion  Avith 
regard  to  this  canal  project  in  Nicaragua  than  is  contained  in  all  the 
canal  company's  literature  put  together,  and  the  company,  as  a  com- 
pany, should  be  indebted  to  us  for  an  investigation  Avhich  has  given 
them  more  valuable  information  as  to  the  nature  of  their  oavu  problem 
than  they  in  all  their  years  of  investigation  and  research  have  ascer- 
tained. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Do  not  you  think  that  is  rather  gratuitous? 

Colonel  LuDLOAV.  Ko;  I  think  not,  if  you  consider  our  relations  as 
professional  men.  We  are  challenged;  and  I  Avill  tell  you  further  what 
makes  me  more  indignant  about  this  is  this  fact — that  our  report,  as  a 
report,  has  not  reached  the  jiublic.  They  can  not  get  it.  This  material 
that  has  been  given  here,  there  is  not  a  ncAvspaper  in  the  country  that 
can  not  print  the  wdiole  of  it,  if  they  like.  These  accusations  against 
us  come  before  the  public,  but  our  case  has  not  been  stated. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Neither  has  there  been  any  objection  or  anything 
thrown  in  the  way  of  the  publication  of  your  report? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Because  they  can  not  get  it. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Your  report  Avas  printed  long  before  the  other  was? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  know  that  engineers  write  me  for  a  copy  of  it, 
and  they  say  they  can  not  get  it  from  Washington.  Of  course,  neces- 
sarily, there  is  a  limited  supply  of  them. 

The  Chairman.  It  is  proi)er  to  say  that  only  a  portion  of  the  report 
has  been  in  print.  It  Avas  found  to  print  it  all  would  require  several 
Aveeks  or  months,  and  we  were  anxious  to  have  the  text  of  the  report, 
and  the  appendixes  and  maps  are  lying  away  Avith  the  expectation  of 
having  it  published  in  conjunction  with  all  of  these  hearings. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  do  not  understand  that  the  committee  have  any 
option  in  the  matter. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Of  course,  when  one  is  criticising  it  is  easy  to 
criticise 

Mr.  Wanger.  Would  it  not  be  well  to  have  a  reprint  of  that 
document,  JSTo.  279? 

Mr.  Sherman.  I  tried  to  make  the  request,  and  I  stated  to  ^r.  Pick- 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  177 

ler  why  I  desired  to  make  the  request,  but  he  demanded  the  regular 
order,  and  tliat  is  the  reason  why  it  was  not  rei)riiited  hist  week. 

Mr.  UooLiTTLE.  There  is  no  attempt  to  suppress  this  iuformation  as 
far  as  the  committee  is  concerned! 

Oolouel  Ludlow.  Not  at  all,  and  I  beg  you  to  excuse  me  from  mak- 
ing any  reflection  upon  the  committee.  I  am  sure  no  one  would  so  inter- 
I)ret  me.  It  was  only  the  circumstances  of  the  case  in  which  this  vol- 
unteer attack  proceeds,  and  the  lack  of  an  opportunity  of  the  public  to 
read  what  we  had  to  say 

Mr.  Sherman.  That  is  not  quite  correct,  because  it  was  printed; 
your  report  was  printed,  so  much  as  has  been  printed,  and  was  accessi- 
ble to  the  newspapers  weeks  before  this  other. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Did  they  get  them? 

Mr.  Sherman.  I  do  not  know  whether  they  did  or  not;  some  did, 
because  I  gave  it  to  some  of  them  myself 

Mr.  Patterson.  How  was  that,  Mr.  Guthridge? 

Mr.  GuTHRiDGE  (representing  Associated  Press),  Both  members  of 
the  two  associated  presses  sent  out  a  very  fair  abstract  of  the  Commis- 
sion's report.  I  wrote  an  abstract  of  it  myself,  and  I  think  covered  the 
ground  pretty  fairly. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  These  engineers  want  to  get  it,  and  they  are  the 
ones  interested,  and  have  asked  for  copies.  They  will  get  them  in  the 
course  of  time,  but  it  added  a  little  more  urgency — perha|)S  a  little  more 
warmth — here  to  my  replies  in  regard  to  this  matter  that  we  were  sud- 
denly and  unjustiliedly  attacked  in  a  very  unfair  way  with  the  aid  of 
false  and  malicious  statements. 

Now,  if  you  please,  Mr.  Chairman,  I  would  like  to  go  back  a  little 
and  review  some  portions  of  Mr.  Miller's  remarks  which  relate  to  the 
engineering,  because  it  will  illustrate  the  difticulty  that  the  board  has 
found  almost  from  the  beginning.  I  refer  to  that  "elusiveness"  by 
reason  of  which  we  are  unable  to  get  anything  fixed  or  settled.  It  was 
all  subject  to  change  and  modifications,  and  if  objection  was  made  to 
one  thing  a  substitute  was  immediately  offered,  and  so  on.  There  are 
some  features  of  Mr.  Miller's  statement  which  I  am  justified  as  regard- 
ing as  having  a  somewhat  serious  relation  to  the  affair,  and  what  he 
has  stated,  if  to  be  interpreted  seriously,  would  probably  have  an 
important  influence  upon  the  minds  of  the  committee.  I  shall  endeavor 
to  be  as  brief  as  I  can.  This  looseness  of  assertion  I  am  going  to  indi- 
cate here  has  not  necessarily  anything  personal  about  it,  but  on  page 
12  Mr.  Miller — it  is  only  a  small  matter — refers  to  the  perpendicularity 
of  the  canal  banks  which  we  declare  we  found  there. 

That  leaves  things  very  pleasant  in  regard  to  the  canal.  It  may  not 
be  an  important  matter,  but  as  a  matter  of  fact  the  remarks  of  the 
board  relate  not  to  the  canal  banks  at  all;  it  was  only  to  some  railway 
cuts  we  found  there.  It  is  a  small  matter,  but  it  is  like  a  great  many 
others.  On  page  13  there  is  the  question  of  locks.  Now,  the  question 
of  locks  in  this  canal  is  a  very  important  and  a  very  serious  matter. 
No  such  constructions  as  are  proposed  by  the  company  in  their  project 
have  ever  been  built  of  those  dimensions,  and  particularly  not  of  the 
material  which  they  indicate.  They  are  to  be  of  enormous  lifts,  double 
anything  that  has  ever  been  built  before,  and  they  are  to  be  built 
entirely  of  concrete,  according  to  the  project.  There  is  no  estimate  in 
the  project  for  any  other  material.  Now,  Mr.  Miller  quotes  us  as  saying 
that  we  admit  the  locks  are  all  right.  Well,  we  do  not,  as  a  matter  of 
fact.  We  had  to  construct  our  own  locks  and  then  criticise  them.  As 
a  matter  of  fact,  the  canal  company  had  no  locks.  There  were  none  on 
N  C 12 


178  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

the  grrouiid  aud  tliey  liad  none  on  i)ai)er.    They  had  no  drawings  of  a 
canal  lock  and  they  had  no  ])]ans  of  oue. 

I\Ir.  Dooi.iTTLE.  Would  not  that  simply  be  a  matter  of  construction, 
on  Mr.  Miller's  ]>art,  of  your  report? 

Colonel  LuuLOW.  If  you  choose;  but  it  is  also  a  matter  of  miscon- 
struction. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Of  course  that  would  be  a  difference  of  opinion. 

Colonel  LuiJLOW,  Oh,  yes;  but  what  I  am  saying  is  that  the  canal 
company  had  locks  neither  on  the  isthmus  nor  in  their  oftice  when  we 
asked  them  for  drawings  of  the  locks.  We  saw  all  they  had.  They 
declared  they  were  all  they  had.  We  saw  a  half-linished  drawing  of  a 
lock  which  had  been  laid  aside  and  not  later  used,  and  the  drawings 
upon  which  the  estimates  were  made  were  little  sketches  of  a  few  inches 
large,  which  were  simply  used  to  get  the  total  number  of  cubic  yards 
in  the  locks.  There  were  no  detail  drawings  at  all.  Mr.  Miller  refers 
further  down,  in  answer  to  a  question  of  Mr,  Patterson,  that  the  rock 
through  the  country  was  of  uniform  formation.  Well,  hardly  any  kind 
of  rock  can  be  less  uniform.  It  is  extremely  uncertain ;  you  droj)  a 
boring  in  there  and  a  boring  in  here  and  you  meet  with  surprising- 
changes  of  material.  You  find  rock  where  you  did  not  expect  to  find 
rock,  but  clay,  and  clay  where  you  expected  to  find  rock.  It  is  a  vol- 
canic.country  which  has  been  upheaved  and  turned  up  and  turned  over, 
and  shaken 

Mr.  Shekman.  You  did  not  make  any  borings? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Xo;  we  did  not  undertake  to  make  borings. 

Mr.  Sherman.  I  am  simply  asking  the  fact. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  No;  we  made  none  at  all. 

Mr.  Patterson.  The  opinion  you  express  is  from  the  borings  they 
made"? 

Colonel  Lltdlow.  Assuredly;  we  had  all  their  data,  and  that  is  where 
we  got  most  of  the  information,  as  a  matter  of  course,  of  everything  out 
of  sight.  We  spent  three  months  investigating  those  data  in  New 
York,  and  the  company  offered  it  freely  to  us. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  He  stated  that  the  formation  is  absolutely  of  igne- 
ous rock,  did  he  not? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  There  is  a  tremendous  diversity  of  material. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  But  it  comes  under  the  general  head  of  igneous 
volcanic  rock? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  In  that  way  it  is  of  the  same  general  character 
of  rock? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Not  in  the  least.  You  can  not  say  tliat  a  rock  you 
could  not  cut  with  a  chisel  and  a  rock  you  can  crush  with  your  hands 
are  of  the  same  character. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  But  it  is  all  volcanic  rock? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  To  that  extent,  then,  I  say  that  it  is  uniform? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes,  but  not  from  an  engineering  standpoint;  it  is 
distinctly  anything  else. 

Mr.  Stewart.  Mr.  Miller  simply  said  the  rock  was  of  the  same  for- 
mation in  reference  to  sliding  and  disintegrating? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  That  can  not  be  stated  as  an  engineering 
proposition. 

Mr.  Stewart.  Mr.  Patterson  asked: 

Did  you  liud  tlio  samo  material  in  your  boriugat 


NICAliAGUA    CANAL.  179 

And  the  unswer  is: 

Yos,  .sir;  thore  is  uo  tciiiloiicy  of  the  rock  to  slide  or  (lisiutegrate. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  WliicU  is  a  distinct  error.  Portions  of  that  rock 
left  ou  the  surface  in  a  rainfall  went  to  ujud.  There  is  a  lot  of  that 
material  there. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  It  would  not  be  rock,  then? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  is  what  the  company  called  rock.  There  is  rock 
that  when  you  expose  it  to  the  air  and  rainfall  disintegrates  and  goes 
to  pieces  and  becomes  mud.  It  only  shows  the  necessity  for  the  most 
careful  investigation  of  that  material.  Now  on  page  14  Mr.  jNliller,  ou 
the  top  of  the  page,  indicates  the  results  of  the  borings  at  the  Ochoa 
Dam — wait  a  moment,  if  you  please.  Here  is  a  very  interesting  item  at 
the  top  of  the  page.  Mr.  Miller,  in  answer  to  the  ([uestiou  of  Mr.  Pat- 
terson about  the  San  Juan  liiver,  says : 

The  San  Jiiau  River  is  a  large  navigable  stream;  is  from  40  to  100  feet  deep;  it  is 
500  to  1,500  feet  wide. 

If  that  were  true,  without  qualification  or  some  knowledge  otherwise, 
the  question  would  be  asked  at  once  that  if  we  have  a  river  40  to  100 
feet  deep  why  should  you  go  to  work  and  build  a  canal  to  get  up  to 
Lake  Nicaragua.  Of  course  the  river  is  not  40  to  100  feet  deep. 
There  is  a  portion  where  it  has  that  depth,  and  that  is  mainly  at  one 
place,  where  they  have  a  stretch  of  about  IS  or  20  miles,  and  that  is 
above  Ochoa  Dam.  Generally  the  channel  only  allows  the  navigation 
of  light  draft  steamboats,  but  there  are  27  miles  at  a  stretch  where  you 
have  to  dredge  to  get  a  ship  channel  at  all. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  The  whole  27  miles? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  The  whole  upper  27  miles  of  the  San  Juan  liiver 
has  to  be  dredged. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  How  deep  ou  the  average? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  That  is  hard  to  say.  The  San  Juan  River  is  10 
feet  deep  where  it  leaves  the  lake.  There  are  bars  in  the  river  of  4  and 
5  feet  deep,  aud  then  a  portion  10  or  15  feet  as  you  come  up. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  You  mean  there  is  25  miles  of  actual  dredging  and 
clearing  out  of  the  channel  to  be  done? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Twenty-seven  miles. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Without  a  break? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Without  a  break,  aud  the  profile  shows  it.  There 
might  be  little  deeper  pools,  but  practically  you  have  to  dredge  and 
blast  over  that  whole  distance,  aud  the  company's  estimate  shows  that 
is  to  be  done  on  their  jirotile.  Now,  just  below,  on  page  14,  is  reference 
to  the  foundations  of  Ochoa  Dam;  Mr.  Miller  says  it  is  found  at  the  site 
of  the  Ochoa  Dam  there  was  uo  rock  bottom: 

As  a  result  of  that  it  became  necessary  to  find  some  other  way  to  build  the  dam 
and  rest  it  upon  clay  bottom  so  as  to  make  it  permanent  and  safe. 

There  he  seems  to  consider  a  clay  bottom  a  good  thing  to  get,  but  the 
chief  engineer's  statement  says  that  the  foundation  of  the  Ochoa  Dam — 
not  the  statement  here  but  his  technical  Chicago  paper  states — that 
underlying  the  site  of  the  Ochoa  Dam  the  material  is  ''gravel,  clay, 
aud  rock,  in  the  order  named,"  aud  the  only  drawing  they  had  to  show 
us  was  a  cross  section  of  the  river  at  that  i)oint,  as  the  proposed  con- 
struction of  the  Ochoa  Dam.  The  tracing  delineated  the  river  with  the 
saud  and  gravel  aud  clay  bottom,  aud  underneath  it  was  depicted  a 
very  handsome  ledge  of  rock  underlying  the  whole  width  of  the  river 
and  curving  nicely  up  ou  each  bank.  Well,  it  looked  from  the  informa- 
tiuu  aud  from  that  cross  section  like  a  beautiful  x)hiee  to  build  the  dam. 


180  NICARAGUA   CANAL. 

Unfortunately  the  borings  disclosed  the  fact  that  there  was  no  rock 
or  clay  there  within  23  feet.  It  is  possible  if  they  had  gone  25  feet  they 
may  have  found  it,  but  they  Avent  down  23  or  24  feet  and  the  pipe 
choked  and  they  gave  it  up.  That  is  one  of  the  i)oints  we  insisted 
upon,  because  if  you  can  find  rock  at  20,  30,  or  40,  or  even  50  feet,  it 
would  be  an  extremely  valuable  thing.  On  tiie  next  page,  however,  in 
the  afternoon's  testimony,  Mr.  Miller  states  that  the  Ochoa  Dam  "  of 
course  is  to  be  built  on  a  sand  bottom."  There  is  no  reference  to  any- 
thing better  than  sand,  and  he  says: 

Tbe  question  as  to  whether  that  is  sntticient  or  not  is  not  a  question  of  theory,  but 
settled  by  any  quantity  of  great  public  works  all  over  tbe  world. 

He  says  below : 

It  is  not  necessary  to  repeat  illustrations  regarding  the  fact  that  any  superstructure 
of  any  weight  to-day  can  be  built  resting  entirely  upon  sand. 

And  evinces  the  tendency  to  take  an  enthusiastic  view  about  sand  as 
a  foundation.  Sand  is  not  regarded  as  a  desirable  foundation  for  a  dam 
under  water  if  you  can  get  rock  or  even  hard  clay,  and  an  engineer  would 
try  a  long  while  before  he  would  accept  the  idea  that  he  would  have  to 
build  on  sand. 

Mr.  Patterson.  What  do  you  think  of  the  practicability  of  building 
a  dam  on  a  sand  bottom? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  That  we  discussed  at  great  length  in  our  report. 
We  studied  that  i>roblem — -just  sweated  blood  over  it.  We  worked  on 
that  thing  for  weeks,  because  there  was  nothing  else  for  us  to  do.  We 
could  not  assume  things.  You  can  engineer  to  any  extent  if  you 
assume  your  data,  and  it  is  a  great  comfort  to  be  able  to  do  it;  but, 
unfortunately,  with  our  responsibility  we  could  not.  We  had  to  take 
what  we  had,  and  we  had  to  take  sand,  and  had  to  draw  a  plan  and 
try  to  build  a  dam  in  sand  with  a  clay  bank,  on  a  river  that  would  rise 
maybe  20  feet  on  you,  with  a  big  stream  1,000  feet  wide. 

Mr.  Stewart.  But  you  came  to  the  conclusion  it  could  be  done*? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  did,  but  not  the  way  the  company  proposes 
to  do  it.  We  are  pleased  to  find  that  the  chief  engineer  concurs  with 
us  in  this,  and  he  has  gone  even  better.  He  had  a  dam  500  feet  base; 
it  is  now  1,000  feet  base.  Measuring  up  and  down  stream  we  laid 
out  about  900  feet.  We  doubled  the  thing,  and  he  has  recently  come 
up  approximately  to  our  figures  of  the  cost.  I  did  not  know  that 
(;hange  had  been  made.  1  notice  that  in  concluding  the  testimony  he 
does  not  make  any  change  in  the  total  cost  of  the  canal.  The  estimate 
remains  about  the  same.  Now,  Mr.  Doolittle  (you  will  not  mind  my 
mentioning  you),  you  asked  the  question  about  the  width  of  the  lake 
and  the  river  channel,  and  Mr.  Miller  says  that  the  Commission  recom- 
mended  

Mr.  Patterson.  What  page  is  that  ? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Page  -10.  Mr.  Miller  refers  to  the  width  of  the 
Manchester  Canal,  the  Kiel  Canal,  the  Suez  Canal,  etc.,  and  says  the 
Commission  recommended  that  the  Avidth  of  the  channel  of  the  river 
should  be  increased  to  250  feet,  and  he  says  for  what  reason  he  did  not 
know.  No  one  would  suppose  that  we  had  given  two  or  three  pages  of 
reasons  in  our  report,  which  we  are  willing  to  submit  to  the  engineers 
of  the  world  as  being  absolutely  sound  and  good  reasons — substantial 
reasons.  That  is  another  evidence  of  the  tendency  to  confuse  things. 
He  is  now  talking  about  the  open  river  with  a  current — a  river  1,000 
feet  wide. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  What  would  be  the  current  after  building  the 
Ochoa  Dam? 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  1^1 


Colonel  Ludlow.  I  do  not  know- 


Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Have  you  made  any  estimates'? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  would  be  very  ditlicult.  No;  we  Lave  not,  except 
in  a  general  way,  and  what  current  there  may  be  is  a  nuitter  to  be  con- 
sidered. It  might  be  as  much  as  2  or  3  miles  an  hour.  Whether  it  would 
be  4  or  only  2  1  do  not  know. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  You  know  it  would  be  more  than  half  a  mile  an 
lumr? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  If  you  knew  how  high  that  lake  would  rise 

Mr.  DooLiTTLB.  At  110  feet,  I  mean. 

Colonel  Ludlow,  llow  much  higher  will  it  go? 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  I  am  not  asking  that;  that  is  not  the  question.  I 
say  will  the  current  be  more  than  half  a  mile  tliere  witli  the  lake  at  110 
feet? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  There  may  be  no  current  whatever,  because  with 
a  level  of  110  feet  it  may  be  level  all  the  way  from  the  hike  to  tlie  dam. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Have  you  ever  estimated  to  see  what  the  current 
may  be? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  measured  the  flow  of  the  river. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  I  mean  with  that  elevation? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  made  a  great  many  estimates. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Do  you  know  whether  or  not  you  made  that  estimate? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  do  not  know  at  the  moment.  We  had  no  way  of 
determining  it.  W^e  could  only  make  a  sort  of  intelligent  guess  at  it 
because  we  did  not  liave  the  data  to  determine  it.  It  would  certainly 
have  some  current  while  that  lake  is  varying.  Tlie  lake  is  going  to 
discharge  itself,  or  else  drown  out  the  whole  basin.  You  have  to  let 
the  water  come  out  during  the  rainy  season. 

Now,  there  is  a  confusion  between  this  river  channel  and  the  canal. 
The  two  things  are  not  synonymous,  and  in  consequence  we  do  not  call 
the  deepening  of  the  channel  in  the  river  the  canal,  and  that  portion  is 
not  comparable  with  the  Manchester  or  the  Suez,  which  are  inclosed 
between  banks.  It  would  not  be  seriously  considered  practical  to  make 
a  12.5-foot  channel  in  the  river  simply  because  the  Manchester  Canal  has 
120  of  width.  Now,  then,  about  this  matter  of  the  lake  channel,  we 
Avere  in  favor  of  increasing  that,  and  that  is  not  regarded  by  them  as 
judicious.  The  company  tlunks  150  feet  is  enough,  and  sometimes  the 
lake  channel  is  called  a  part  of  the  canal.  It  is  nothing  in  the  world 
but  a  trench  made  in  the  open  lake.  It  is  not  a  canal.  It  is  only  like 
deepening  the  channel  of  a  harbor,  of  which  we  have  dozens  of  exam- 
ines all  over  the  country.  The  one  we  took  as  being  the  nearest  is 
Mobile,  for  the  reason  that  Mobile  channel  is  of  considerable  length, 
and  the  materials  which  had  to  be  dredged  from  Mobile  Bay  were 
almost  exactly  similar  to  those  we  found  on  the  bottom  of  Lake 
Nicaragua. 

The  board  took  the  trouble  while  we  were  being  delayed,  if  you 
idease,  at  the  mouth  of  the  river  to  go  out  in  the  lake  and  sound  and 
measure  the  depth  of  the  mud  by  thrusting  a  long  pole  into  it  and  meas- 
uring it  carefully.  Nobody  had  done  it  before,  and  we  wanted  to  know, 
and  we  found  out  there  were  9  or  10  feet  of  soft  mud.  First  it  was 
about  as  thick  as  pea  soup  to  start  with.  Then  it  gradually  thickened 
until  you  got  down  to  material  through  which  you  could  not  with  the 
weight  of  your  body  thrust  a  pole.  The  material  was  almost  exactly 
what  was  found  in  Mobile  Bay.  We  asked  the  officer  in  charge  of  that 
work  to  tell  us  what  kind  of  a  side  slope  they  would  require  with  such 
material.    He  gave  us  his  opinion,  which  was  an  extremely  interesting 


1.S2  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

and  valuable  one,  tliat  tho.  slope  of  sucli  ninterial  at  Mobile  ran  soTn(»- 
tliiiig  about  15  or  20  to  1.  The  company's  lake  (jliannel  lias  a  side  slope 
of  3  to  1,  which  would  be  a  pro])er  slope,  perhaps,  for  reasonably  soft 
material  out  of  the  water  instead  of  under  the  water. 

Even  firm  material  would  not  stand  at  such  a  slope  as  that  under 
water,  and  so  we  had  to  increase  the  slope.  We  had  to  increase  the 
width,  too,  because  this  is  a  channel  in  the  open  lake,  14  miles  straight 
away  in  the  oi^en  lake.  Another  ])oint  I  object  to  is  Mr,  Miller's  asser- 
tion that  the  only  object  we  had  in  increasing  the  dimensions  of  that 
channel  was  to  increase  the  cost  of  the  work.  That  is  absolutely  untrue 
and  a  perfectly  gratuitous  statement,  and  our  own  report  refutes  it. 
We  give  the  reasons  for  doing  that  in  our  report,  and  anybody  can 
read  it,  and  there  is  no  excuse  for  making  a  statement  of  that  kind. 
The  inference  all  through  both  his  testimony  and  that  of  Mr.  Menocal 
is  that  we  are  simply  trying  to  increase  the  cost  on  the  theory  that  hav- 
ing an  unlimited  treasury  it  did  not  make  any  difference,  and  while  they 
were  trying  to  be  economical  we  were  trying  to  be  reckless  and  as 
extravagant  as  possible.  The  next  note  is  on  page  20,  and  is  rather  an 
important  matter.  It  is  perhaps  worth  while  to  look  into  it.  It  is 
about  two-thirds  of  the  way  down  the  page,  where  Mr.  Treat  is  referred 
to.  He  was  the  gentleman  who  built  the  railroad  for  the  company  at 
Greytown,  and  did  it  very  well,  and  was  in  Nicaragua  for  quite  a  length 
of  time.     Mr.  Miller  says : 

He  wrote  me  a  letter  sometime  ago,  stating  that  lie  would  take  the  entire  contract 
for  the  canal  and  do  all  the  work  at  the  price  named  by  our  chief  engim^cr  in  his 
estimate,  we,  of  course,  guaranteeing  the  quantities  to  be  not  greater  than  those 
stated  in  their  estimates.  Further  than  that,  he  oftered  to  build  the  entire  canal  for 
$90,000,000  and  take  no  guaranty  as  to  the  actual  quantities. 

The  board,  of  course,  was  interested  in  this  proposition  of  Mr.  Treat, 
and  it  is  an  important  matter.  He  is  a  responsible  person  and  a  man 
of  repute  and  of  resources,  and  we  wanted  to  hear  what  Mr.  Treat  had 
really  proposed  to  do  for  the  company,  and  he  was  good  enough  to  come 
and  see  us  at  the  office,  and  we  asked  about  this  projiosition.  This 
was  last  summer.  It  is  quite  possible  there  may  have  been  somechange 
in  the  matter  since  then.  He  may  have  made  a  further  proi)osition  to 
Mr.  Miller,  but  I  do  not  believe  he  has,  for  last  summer,  while  investi- 
gating this  proposition,  Mr.  Treat  was  good  enough  to  let  us  have  a 
copy  of  his  letter,  and  he  said  he  had  no  objection  to  letting  us  see  what 
he  offered  to  do. 

Mr.  Miller's  statement  is  somewhat  surprising  unless  it  can  be  modi- 
fied by  some  subsequent  proffer  on  Mr.  Treat's  part,  for  the  reason  that 
Mr.  Treat's  proi)Osition  related  exclusively  and  solely  to  the  western 
division,  which  is  the  easiest  and  nicest  pieces  of  work  on  the  whole 
route.  He  made  no  proposition  for  the  construction  of  the  eastern 
division,  and  told  the  board  he  would  not  have  anything  to  do  with  it. 
Now,  unless  he  has  changed  his  mind  since  then,  this  statement  of  JVIr. 
Miller's  is  entirely  in  error,  and  entirely  misleading  to  the  committee, 
and  to  ajiybody  who  takes  account  of  it. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  You  say  Mr.  Treat  never  offered  to  construct  the 
entire  work? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  He  told  us  he  refused  to  have  anything  to  do  with 
the  eastern  division.  He  showed  to  us  and  explained  to  us  what  he 
ofiered  to  do,  and  left  us  a  (iopy  of  his  letter.  If  the  committee  is  curi- 
ous about  it,  and  Mr.  Treat  is  willing,  1  am  ])erfcctly  willing  to  furnish 
the  committee  with  a  coi)y  of  the  document  which  ]\Ir.  Treat  gave  us 
last  summer  as  being  the  last  proposition  he  had  made  to  Mr.  Miller. 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  183 

Wc  liave  that  in  our  possession.  There  is  no  secret  about  it.  l^ow, 
why  shouhl  it  be  so  travestied  beref  He  made  a  proposition  to  buikl 
the  western  division  attlie  engineer's  prices,  but  with  certain  conditious. 
One  of  the  conditions  was  that  they  shoukl  buikl  a  million  dollar's  worth 
of  railroad  to  start  with. 

Mr.  Patterson.  What  did  he  agree  to  do  it  for? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  He  agreed  to  do  it  at  the  engineer's  prices — a,t 
Mr.  Menocal's  prices — provided  they  did  certain  things.  One  was  that 
they  should  furnish  him  with  a  million  dollar's  worth  of  double-track 
railroad,  standard  gauge,  on  the  western  side. 

Mr.  Stewart.  What  is  the  date  of  the  letter? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  can  get  a  copy  of  it  if  you  like,  but  I  have  not 
it  with  me.     I  have  not  it  even  in  my  possession. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  You  mean  the  western  division  from 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  mean  the  Pacific  division;  and  he  told  us  specifi- 
cally he  would  not  have  anything  to  do  with  the  eastern  division.  He 
has  been  there;  he  built  the  railroad  from  Grey  town  to  the  hills. 
Eecollect  these  are  1890  prices;  those  are  the  prices  contained  in  the 
pamphlet  of  the  chief  engineer's  report  on  final  location  of  the  canal. 
Furtliermore  there  were  other  conditions  attached  besides  the  con- 
struction of  forty  miles  of  railroad.  That  means  about  twenty'  miles 
of  double-track  railroad,  at  a  cost  of  about  $25,000  a  mile  for  each  track. 
There  are  other  conditions  attached,  and  one  was  that  he  offered  to 
build  the  La  FlorDam.  He  offered  to  build  it  providing  the  company 
would  guarantee  he  would  not  have  less  than  2,000,000  cubic  yards  to 
put  into  it,  and  provided,  further,  whether  clay,  stone,  or  earth  went 
into  it  it  should  all  be  charged  up  at  rock  prices.  He  made  some  other 
stipulations  there,  but  it  is  not  material  and  it  only  shows  the  nature  of 
his  proposition,  and  that  this  rendering  of  it  is  absolutely  misleading. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  At  what  amount  did  he  agree  to  build  the  western 
division  1 

Colonel  Ludlow.  As  I  say  at  the  company's  prices,  I  do  not  know 
what  the  total  was. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Was  this  railroad  at  a  cost  of  a  million  dollars  to 
be  built  outside  of  that  ? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  was  to  be  furnished  by  the  company,  and  they 
were  also  to  fnrnisli  certain  other  things — if  I  remember,  some  dumi^ing 
ground  or  grounds,  and  grounds  for  his  hospital  and  barracks,  or  some- 
thing of  that  kind,  which  he  would  not  be  at  the  expense  of  getting 
from  the  Government.  They  were  to  furnish  a  lot  of  things,  in  consid- 
eration for  which  he  would  do  thus  and  so.  It  was  a  qualified  propo- 
sition all  the  way  through,  and  that  is  the  case  to-day  unless  Mr.  Miller 
has  received  a  further  proposition  from  Mr.  Treat.  Now,  there  is  a  little 
more  on  the  top  of  the  next  page,  page  21,  where  Mr.  INIiller  says : 

A  greater  portion  of  this  entire  canal,  so  far  as  vessels  are  concerned,  is  without 
bottom.  The  river,  except  at  points  I  have  mentioned,  is  anywhere  from  40  to  100 
feet  deep,  and  after  yon  get  out  in  the  lake  over  the  mud  I  have  described  then  the 
lake  is  from  50  to  150  feet  in  depth,  and  so  on. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  when  you  take  out  the  deep  portion  of  the  San 
Juan  and  a  portion  of  the  lake  you  still  have  only  half  of  your  canal 
route  instead  of  having  a  greater  j^art  of  it.  On  page  22  Mr.  Miller  says 
we  only  stayed  twelve  or  fourteen  days  on  or  near  the  line  of  the  canal, 
and  never  made  any  survey's  of  any  kind.  Of  course,  it  is  the  same  old 
thing.  He  says  we  refused  to  stop  at  the  site  of  the  Oclioa  Dam,  and 
of  course  never  made  any  survey  there.  There  seems  a  disposition  all 
the  time  to  misstate  things  and  confuse  language.    I  do  not  know  what 


184  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

Mr.  Miller  means  by  a  survey,  but  I  find  the  same  confusion  in  Mr, 
Meuocal's  testimony  that  we  did  not  survey  this  or  that. 

Apparently  surveying  means  doing  something  with  an  instrument, 
which  may  be  that  when  a  man  is  running  a  transit  or  level  he  is  sur- 
veying; that  he  can  not  survey  a  country  otherwise;  and  there  is  a  con- 
fusion between  engineering  and  surveying,  as  though  the  two  words  were 
synonymous,  and  when  you  are  surveying  you  are  doing  engineering. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  surveying  is  only  x^reliminary  to  the  engineering 
and  the  basis  of  it.  You  emi)loy  people  to  do  that.  You  pay  transit- 
men  and  levelmen  and  expect  them  to  do  their  work.  The  engineer 
does  not  do  that  himself.  lie  is  the  man  who  considers  the  results  and 
applies  them  to  the  project,  and  estimates.  A  great  deal  of  stress  is 
laid  upon  the  immense  amount  of  surveying  done  down  there;  4,000 
miles  of  transit  line  run  and  so  many  miles  of  levels.  Well,  40,000 
miles  of  transit  line  would  not  build  the  Ochoa  Dam,  and  you  can  not 
construct  a  40-foot  lock  with  a  spirit  level.  Engineering  is  something 
more  than  running  over  the  country  with  a  transit  and  level.  Now,  we 
are  reproached  with  not  having  made  that  kind  of  surveys. 

Mr.  Stewart.  It  is  absolutely  necessary,  however,  to  have  correct 
surveys  ? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Certainly;  but  you  can't  do  without  engineering. 

Mr.  Stewart.  Did  you  have  it  done! 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  had  no  time  for  that. 

Mr.  Stewart.  And  they  claim  you  did  not  have  the  time! 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  would  like  to  know  what  amount  of  work  we 
would  have  done  if  we  had  undertaken  to  run  transit  and  level  lines. 

Mr.  Stewart.  I  understand  you  are  criticising  some  i)ortion  of  Mr. 
Miller's  statement  as  incorrect,  and  now  you  admit  it  is  absolutely 
correct  ? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  do  not  admit  anything  of  the  kind.  We  made 
very  important  surveys. 

Mr.  Stewart.  Done  by  you? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  made  very  important  surveys.  We  made  the 
most  important  surveys  made  on  that  route. 

Mr.  Stewart.  But  there  were  some  necessary  surveys  that  you  did 
not  make. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Oh,  certainly ;  there  are  70  miles  of  river  to  start 
with. 

Mr.  Stewart.  And  you  would  have  made  them  if  you  had  had  the 
necessary  time,  and  you  consider  those  necessary! 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  regard  them  as  absolutely  essential,  but  these 
gentlemen  say  we  made  no  surveys.     Well,  we  did. 

Mr.  Wanger.  Did  I  understand  you  on  yesterday  to  say  that  the 
exact  length  of  the  San  Juan  River  had  not  been  determined! 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  has  been  determined.  It  was  determined  orig- 
inally by  Childs  in  1853,  and  Childs  was  quite  accurate  in  his  work. 
There  was  a  i)reliminary  reconnoissance  confirming  Childs,  made  by  the 
Lull  survey  in  1872,  and  they  quite  agree.  As  it  happened,  the  canal 
company  have  thrown  oft"  4  miles  of  that  length  by  in.'idvertence,  or 
otherwise.  The  length  of  the  river  as  stated  in  the  canal  company's 
project  is  4  miles  less  than  that.  We  call  attention  to  that  in  our 
report.  It  is  some  error  which  has  crept  in,  and  we  simply  wanted  to 
correct  it.  We  do  not  know  where  that  4  miles  is.  It  may  be  in  some 
place  where  it  may  require  a  good  deal  of  work,  but  it  did  not  matter 
in  that  distance,  because  we  have  used  the  Lull  survey  as  the  basis  of 
the  estimate. 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  185 

Mr.  Booi.iTTLE.  It  might  be  soinewliere  wliero  it  would  require  a 
great  deal  of  work,  and  the  company  left  it  out  intentionally  to  deceive 
somebody? 

Colonel  Lttdlow.  1  do  not  tliink  that;  I  think  it  came  in  by  inadver- 
tence. You  will  iiiid  that  stated  in  our  report.  Since  you  asked  about 
the  length  of  the  river,  I  answered  your  question.  It  is  about  09  miles, 
in  round  nund)er,  from  the  lake  to  the  Ochoa  Dam,  and  120  miles,  if  I 
remember  it,  all  the  way  to  the  sea. 

Mr.  DciOLiTTLB.  You  would  deem  them  quite  capable  in  that  they 
left  it  out  i)urpose]y  to  deceive  somebody,  nccording  to  the  vstatement 
you  made  yesterday  relative  to  the  foundations  of  the  locks'! 

The  Chairman.  I  submit  that  that  is  not  a  proper  lino  of  interroga- 
tory. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  is  unprofessional. 

The  Chairman.  That  is  not  a  matter  the  committee  are  interested  in 
at  all. 

Mr.  DooLTTTLE.  I  am  interested  in  itat  least,  Mr.  Chairman,  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  committee. 

The  Chairman.  I  do  not  think  that  is  fiiir  to  the  witness  or  a  proper 
line  of  interrogatory.    1  f  the  committee  declares  its  sense,  it  shall  be 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  I  do  not  care  to  put  the  committee  to  any  such 
trouble  at  all. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Well,  further  along  on  p;ige  22 — I  do  not  care  to 
stop  over  this  too  much — Mr.  Patterson  inquired  whether  Mr.  Miller 
did  not  think  any  competent  engineer  could  sit  in  Washington,  and 
with  the  data  which  our  board  had  have  as  good  an  opportunity  to 
arrive  at  a  correct  conclusion  as  we  had,  and  Mr.  Miller  said  "certainly 
he  could."  In  other  words,  Mr.  Miller  seems  to  think  our  visit  to  the 
Isthmus  was  practically  fruitless,  and  we  might  have  saved  the  time 
and  expense  of  traveling  and  stayed  in  New  York  or  Washington  and 
made  our  report  there.  We  can  not  agree  with  him.  We  got  important 
data  and  we  made  important  surveys.  We  surveyed  Greytown  Llarbor, 
and  made  the  most  comi)lete  survey  of  it  that  has  been  made.  We  had 
the  advantage  of  the  officers  of  tlie  Montgomery ^  who  did  the  hydro- 
graphic  part,  wdiile  we  did  the  shore  part. 

They  did  the  offshore  work  while  we  did  the  shore  work.  We  sur- 
veyed the  west  shore  of  Lake  Nicaragua,  and  wherever  we  crossed  a 
stream  aiul  had  an  opi)ortunity  of  measuring  and  getting  an  idea  of 
the  quantity  and  the  height  of  the  floods,  etc.,  we  got  it,  and  so  we 
have  been  able  to  correct  the  hydraulic  data  in  a  very  marked  measure. 
We  regarded  that  as  a  very  valuable  result  obtained  by  our  visit.  We 
also  had  an  experience  of  the  heat  and  other  conditions  that  affect 
labor  there,  and  that  is  an  important  matter.  There  was  not  much  we 
could  do  we  had  but  three  months  and  we  wanted  to  go  to  Costa  Eica 
and  Panama  and  we  had  to  make  the  best  use  of  our  judgment,  and 
we  did  that.  We  only  had  six  months'  time  to  do  the  whole  thing  in. 
The  law  was  absolute  on  that  point  in  that  the  report  had  to  be  in  the 
hands  of  the  President  on  or  before  the  1st  day  of  November.  The 
Secretary  of  State  called  our  attention  to  that  fact,  and  the  whole 
appropriation  was  only  $20,000,  of  which  an  allotment  of  something- 
less  than  $15,000  was  for  the  salaries  of  the  board,  $5,000  to  each,  less 
whatever  they  might  be  receiving  from  the  Government  as  salaries. 

So  you  can  see  we  were  extremely  restricted.  We  had  to  take  every- 
thing from  New  York,  which  was  an  expensive  affair,  because  we  could 
not  get  what  we  wanted  on  the  Isthmus.  We  w^ent  on  and  finished  the 
work  to  the  best  of  our  ability,  employing  all  the  time  and  all  the 


180  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

money,  and  when  we  found  our  .appropriation  was  about  run  out,  or 
certain  to  be  exliausted,  we  held  a  council  of  war  and  determined  to  go 
on  anyway,  and  did  go  on  to  the  extent  of  having  expended  some 
$5,000  or  $6,000  of  our  own  money  in  order  to  complete  our  investiga- 
tion and  make  our  report  as  satisfactory  as  we  could. 

Mr.  Stewart.  You  are  getting  a  farther  a])propriation  this  year  in 
an  appropriation  bill  in  this  Congress  f 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  do  not  know,  sir. 

Mr.  Stewakt.  Will  not  that  be  reimbursed  to  you? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  do  not  know  about  that.  I  submitted  the  matter 
to  the  Secretary  of  State,  and  he  was  good  enough  to  say  he  would 
have  it  included  in  some  estimate. 

Mr.  Stewart.  I  think  it  is  iu  one  of  the  estimates  and  in  one  of  the 
appropriation  bills. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  How  the  matter  stands  I  really  do  not  know.  I 
might  perhaps  have  omitted  any  reference  to  it,  but  since  the  work  we 
did  was  challenged  I  wanted  the  committee  to  understand  we  did  the 
best  we  could,  and  perhaps  a  little  more.  We  spared  nothing,  either 
ourselves  or  our  resources.  Mr.  Patterson  asked  if  we  could  not 
have  stayed  in  Washington  just  as  well.  Mr.  Miller  wisely  put  at  the 
bottom : 

Starting  upon  the  premises  as  to  what  we  have  giveu  him  is  true. 

He  meant,  of  course,  all  the  facts  were  correctly  gathered  together. 
It  seems  the  Bogart  board  sat  in  ISTew  York,  and  got  into  serious  trouble 
because  the  borings  giveu  them  to  examine  and  to  go  by  were  not  cor- 
rect. They  stated  that  the  locks  were  to  be  founded  on  rock,  and  this 
was  a  very  serious  error.  It  would  be  interesting  to  know  who  supplied 
the  board  with  those  rock  borings. 

Now,  the  matter  in  regard  to  Mr.  Donaldson  has  been  sufficiently 
stated.  He  is  quoted,  on  page  24,  by  Mr.  Miller,  with  coming  within 
$1,000,000  of  Mr.  Menocal's  estimate,  and  on  page  11  his  estimate  is 
stated  as  less  than  $100,000,000. 

On  page  24  Mr.  Miller  states: 

Everyone  knows  you  can  go  along  the  river  and  tell  what  the  high- water  mark  is. 
The  rise  of  the  San  Juan  River  is  from  4  to  6  feet. 

Now,  it  is  incredible  Mr.  Miller  should  have  made  that  statement 
seriously  as  a  physical  fact  of  the  San  Juan  River.  He  never  could 
have  made  it  if  he  had  taken  the  trouble  to  look  at  his  own  water- 
marks. He  says  anybody  could.  We  did,  and  looked  at  them  with  a 
great  deal  of  interest  and  carefully  investigated  among  the  natives  as 
to  what  the  marks  were,  and  now  the  committee  is  supposed  to  believe 
that  the  rise  of  the  San  Juan  Eiver  is  from  4  to  G  feet.  We  know  it  is 
14,  15,  IG,  and  20  feet,  as  we  actually  measured  it. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  At  what  point  would  it  reach  that  height? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  The  highest  point  is  at  the  Machuca  Rapids, 
about  18  miles  above  the  site  of  the  Ochoa  Dam,  where  we  were  able  to 
get  a  satisfactory  determination  of  where  the  water  reached.  We 
treat  of  that  in  our  rei:»ort. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Now,  at  a  point  as  low  as  Ochoa  would  the  water 
be  up  at  that  height  at  the  same  time  it  was  at  the  height  you  speak 
of  at  that  point? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  That  would  depend.  Those  are  things  difficult  to 
answer.  The  San  Juan  River,  while  it  does  rise  and  fall  through  a 
wide  range,  is  in  no  sense  as  violent  a  river  as  the  San  Carlos,  which 
comes  in  above  the  Ochoa  Dam.    It  might  be  a  sudden  flood  came  down 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  187 

the  San  Carlos  and  tlie  water  be  higher  at  the  dam  than  farther  np  the 
river.  Tliat  lias  actnally  liappened.  A  current  upstream  has  been 
actually  observed,  owing  to  the  San  Carlos  coming  down  with  a  great 
flood  and  temporarily  got  rid  of  it  by  going  upstream  and  downstream 
both. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  You  do  not  mean  for  the  committee  to  understand 
thei-e  is  a  rise  along  the  whole  length  of  the  river  of  14  to  15  feet? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Only  at  points  wliere  you  can  measure  it,  of  course. 
We  found  plenty  of  them.     We  found  owe  near  Ochoa  of  15  feet. 

Mr.  Sherman.  Eight  at  that  point  Senator  Miller  says  the  river 
has  never  done  serious  damage  to  the  country.  Do  you  claim  that  is 
an  incorrect  statement  *? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  do  not  know  anything  about  it,  and  nobody 
knows.  It  is  a  wilderness.  There  are  only  a  few  haciendas  and  plan- 
tations along  the  banks  of  the  river,  the  population  is  extremely  limited, 
and  buildings  are  very  few.  All  that  Atlantic  side  is  almost  without 
po]>ulation.  The  San  Juan  River  in  the  upper  section  as  far  as  the 
Ochoa  Dam  has  quite  high  banks  and  shores.  When  you  get  below 
this  you  get  into  the  delta,  and  then  it  is  all  a  vast  swamp  and  wilder- 
ness. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  What  was  the  occasion  of  the  rise  of  the  river  par- 
ticularly at  the  point  where  you  discovered  these  banks  marked  this 
rise? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  There  might  be  two  reasons.  There  might  be  a 
meeting  of  two  floods,  one  out  of  the  San  Carlos  upstream,  and  one 
out  of  the  San  Juan  downstream. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Do  the  banks  approach  each  other  more  closely? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  The  banks  come  in,  and  there  is  a  rocky  bottom, 
but  the  bed  of  the  San  Juan  above  where  the  San  Carlos  comes  in  is 
fairly  stable.  It  has  a  great  big,  wide  valley,  900  or  1,000  feet  VAide,  500 
feet  in  some  places  and  1,500  feet  in  some  other  places.  It  is  a  fine 
stream.  Now,  on  the  next  page,  25,  perhaps  it  is  not  worth  while  to  go 
into  these  details,  but  Mr.  Miller  makes  some  statements  in  regard  to 
earthquakes.  I  do  not  know  whether  it  is  worth  while  to  state  it  or 
not.  He  says  that  the  motion  of  an  earthquake  at  the  surface  of  the 
earth  is  very  shght.  I  suppose  jjeople  who  live  in  earthquake  coun- 
tries would  be  very  glad  to  be  sure  of  that,  and  that  really  to  enjoy  an 
earthquake  you  have  to  go  to  the  top  of  a  church  spire,  so  as  to  get  100 
or  200  feet  above  the  ground.  Our  board  got  very  valuable  informa- 
tion about  earthquakes  and  volcanoes,  which  was  a  vital  question,  aud 
we  investigated  it  as  far  as  we  could,  and  one  of  the  appendixes  to  our 
report  is  a  pajier  by  Professor  Pittier,  of  Costa  Rica,  who  is  a  perfectly 
competent  man,  and  a  scientific  man,  and  he,  at  our  request,  prepared 
some  notes  and  data  on  that  subject  which  are  extremely  interesting 
and  valuable,  and  very  reassuring,  if  you  like. 

It  is  largely  upon  information  derived  from  him  that  the  board  felt 
satisfied  that  the  work  could  proceed  without  regard  to  the  contin- 
gencies of  earthquakes.  At  the  top  of  page  20  Mr.  Patterson  inquired 
about  the  harbor  at  Brito,  in  regard  to  the  difficulties  there — I  beg 
pardon.  There  is  one  other  matter  I  want  to  suggest.  At  the  bottom 
of  page  25  Mr.  Miller  recurs  to  the  question  of  locks,  and  suggests  if 
anybody  ai)prehends  there  is  any  danger  of  the  locks  from  earthquakes 
they  can  be  built  of  steel.  It  only  shows  the  willingness  to  change  the 
proposition  and  modify  it  by  something  else  to  meet  objection,  which  is 
a  perfectly  rational  thing  to  do,  but  it  also  shows  the  eiusiveness  of  the 
project  as  a  project,  that  you  can  not  pin  anything  down.    Now.  in 


188  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

re.£:nr(l  to  the  liarbor  at  P>rito,  Mr.  Patterson  wanted  to  know  about  the 
importance  of  the  work.  Mr.  Menocal  says  in  liis  travesty  of  our  doings 
tliere  we  ran  from  llivas  to  ]>rito  on  tlie  l^icific  coast,  and  h)oked  around 
a  little  and  took  a  bath,  and  then  went  back  to  camii.  That  is  all  we 
did,  apparently. 

Now,  as  a  matter  of  fact  we  spent  the  greater  i)art  of  the  day  there 
and  made  observations  w  liicli  satislicd  us  in  regard  to  the  physics  of 
the  place  and  other  matters  which  we  afterwards  found  extraordinarily 
valuable  in  considering  the  construction  of  the  harbor  there.  We 
observed  two  things  right  off.  One  was  that  there  was  a  strong  breeze 
blowing  offshore  that  confirmed  the  statement  that  the  trade  winds 
blew  entirely  across  the  isthmus  ami  out  to  sea  on  the  l*acitic  side.  It 
was  a  fresh  breeze  and  w^e  were  on  the  top  of  a  liill  and  we  had  to  hold 
on  a  bit.  Furthermore,  we  observed  that  while  the  water  was  entirely 
calm  there  was  a  surf  breaking  on  the  beach  not  less  than  5  or  6  feet 
in  height.  Even  with  the  calm  weather  the  surf  was  breaking  on  that 
shore.  Those  are  the  things  an  engineer  wants  to  get.  He  does  uot 
note  them  with  tlie  transit  or  level,  but  he  notes  them  with  his  mind. 

We  noted  other  things.  We  noted  that  the  site  of  the  last  rock  on 
that  side  was  in  a  place  where  w^e  did  not  believe  there  was  auy  solid 
foundation  wiiatever.  It  looked  like  a  very  dangerous  place,  although 
the  books  we  had  to  go  by,  the  oi'licial  report  of  the  caual  company,  esti- 
mates for  rock  to  be  removed  at  the  site  of  that  lock.  Now,  it  was  diffi- 
cult for  us  to  believe  there  was  really  any  serious  quantity  of  rock  at 
that  point,  and  of  course  we  made  a  note  of  the  fact  and  later  investi- 
gated it.  We  found  that  the  estimate  of  1890  was  completely  in  error 
as  to  there  being  any  rock  there. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Is  it  not  in  exact  conformity  with  the  estimates  to 
remove  material  where  the  material  was  not  absolutely  known  to  esti- 
mate upon  the  basis  as  given  for  the  removal  of  rock  1 

Colonel  Ludlow.  No  ;  really,  as  a  matter  of  fact  that  is  not  quite  true. 

Mr.  DooLTTTLE.  Is  uot  that  about  true? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  No;  not  about  the  truth.  Tlie  fact  is,  there  was  a 
boring  made  at  the  site  of  that  lock,  and  this  estimate  was  made  in 
1890,  and  we  got  the  original  memorandum  of  it.  We  got  the  notebook 
of  Mr.  Hunt  or  some  one  of  the  company's  engineers,  and  we  examined 
it  to  see.  There  w^as  but  one  boring  made  at  that  time,  and  the  engi- 
neer reported  that  his  auger — that  is  all  he  had ;  he  was  not  boring  with 
a  drill,  but  he  was  boring  with  an  earth  auger  which  would  not  go  through 
a  chip,  but  would  go  through  soft  material — he  reported  something 
hard  down  there,  whether  rock  or  something  else.  Now,  that  is  abso- 
lutely all  the  information  on  which  that  Lock  Ni).  G  is  estimated  for  as 
almost  the  exact  quantity  of  rock  to  be  taken  out  of  that  site, 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  At  what  depth  did  they  go  there;  do  you  recollect? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  They  struck  this  thing,  I  forget,  20  feet  or  some- 
thing; it  may  have  been  a  sul)merged  log  in  the  nuul  that  fetched  the 
anger  up.  You  will  find  in  the  official  report  of  the  chief  engineer  for 
1890 — the  official  report: — that  at  lock  No.  C  there  is  to  be  removed  not 
less  than  G1,G98  cubic  y.ards  of  rock. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Now,  is  not  that  estimated  for  in  the  estimates  of  the 
company  as  rockwork,  and  does  not  it  embrace  a  portion  of  the  cost  in 
accordance  with  the  company's  estimates'? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  How  is  that  arrived  at? 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  I  asked  you  if  that  is  not  true? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  do  not  believe  it  is  absolutely  true;  I  do  not 
really  believe  that  indication  is  sufficient. 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  189. 

Mr.  DoOLTTTLE.  I  Say  to  remove  that  rock  of  course  would  add  to 
the  expense  of  construction. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  beg  your  pardon.  I  do  not  agree  with  you. 
The  fact  is  that  rock  would  have  cheapened  the  construction. 

Mr.  DoOLiTTLE.  It  might 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  am  sure  it  would,  as  I  will  tell  you  later  if  you 
wish  to  know. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  It  is  more  expensive  to  remove  rock  than  earth. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  But  there  are  other  things  to  be  taken  into  account. 
When  you  want  to  build  a  lock  you  would  like  to  have  a  rock  bottom 
to  build  on.  A  lock  is  a  very  dangerous  construction,  and  you  get  the 
best  foundation  you  can,  and  rock  is  very  desirable,  even  if  it  costs 
more;  but  as  a  matter  of  fact  you  will  find,  if  you  will  look  at  the 
revised  estimates  of  the  company  in  1895,  made  at  our  instance  last 
summer  after  Sr  further  investigation  of  that  site,  the  borings  disclosed 
the  unwelcome  fact  there  was  no  bottom  to  it.  It  was  soft  mud  as  fav 
as  the  borings  went.  They  could  not  even  find  a  liard  place.  The 
result  was  the  company  added  $250,000  to  the  cost  of  that  lock  for 
putting  in  a  foundation.  The  removal  of  the  rock  had  been  estimated 
for  at  a  cost  of  $77,000,  and  by  the  fact  there  was  no  rock  there  the 
cost  was  put  at  $250,000. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Is  it  any  more  important  in  a  matter  of  this  sort  to 
have  a  natural  rock  foundation  than  that  any  of  these  great  dry  docks 
being  constructed  by  the  Government  should  have  a  natural  rock 
foundation'? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Well,  there  is  no  necessity 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  I  say  there  is  no  greater  need  of  a  rock  foundation 
in  a  lock  than  in  a  dry  dock  ? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  is  very  desirable  to  have  it. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  But  I  say  it  is  not  more  necessary;  one  is  as  much 
important  as  the  other,  is  it  not? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  In  some  senses  I  should  say  it  is,  but  I  am  not 
really  as  familiar  with  the  construction  of  dry  docks  as  I  tbink  my 
colleague  in  the  ISTavy  is. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Your  judgment  is,  it  is  entirely  practicable  to  build 
a  lock  in  that  soil,  but  it  would  be  cheaper  and  better  to  build  it  by 
excavating  rock? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  If  you  can  find  a  rock  bottom  for  it  I  think  you 
have  got  as  good  a  piece  of  bottom  as  you  can  find.  The  next  best  to 
that,  perhaps,  would  be  a  tough,  hard  clay,  and  sand  would  be  a  very 
dangerous  thing  to  work  in  for  a  small  structure  of  that  kind,  compar- 
atively— 1  mean  small  in  relation  to  its  enormous  weight.  You  would 
rather  not  get  sand  unless  you  would  be  sure  you  can  keep  it  confined; 
you  certainly  do  not  want  mud.  You  would  look  for  some  other  place, 
that  is  all. 

Mr.  Patterson.  And  disconnected  rock  would  be  expensive,  too? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  You  would  not  want  that.  A  mixture  of  bowlders 
and  sand  and  clay  makes  a  very  poor  bottom.  You  want  something 
coherent  and  uniform,  if  you  can  get  it.  You  do  not  want  to  build  one 
corner  of  the  superstructure  on  rock  and  have  the  other  corner  resting  on 
something  that  would  give  way,  but  you  want  a  uniform  bottom,  so  that 
you  could  have  the  whole  uniform,  even  if  you  have  ])Oor  material,  and 
have  it  uniform,  so  the  settlement  and  weight  would  be  equally  distrib- 
uted.    I  believe  that  is  all  of  Mr.  Miller's  testimony  I  care  to  note. 

The  Chairman.  Does  that  conclude  that  branch  of  the  subject? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  For  tlie  moment.  I  was  going  to  Mr.  Menocal's 
statement^  ^iiiali  was  unfinished  on  yesterday. 


IDO  NICAKAGUA    CANAL. 

Tlie  CiiAriiMAN.  J  only  want  to  .sug<;est  after  you  were  tlirougli  with 
your  statement  I  wanted  to  ask  a  i'ew  questions. 

Colonel  LuuLow.  1  am  entirely  at  the  disposal  of  the  eonnnittee  for 
any  length  of  time.  Since  the  eonnnittee  has  called  for  me,  and  since 
we  have  embarked  ui)on  this  matter  in  consequence  of  the  attack  made 
on  the  Commission,  1  am  (juite  willing  to  see  the  thing  right  through, 
although  I  am  in  no  sense  prepared  for  it. 

On  page  51,  Mr.  Menocal  states  the  following: 

I  have  made  observatious  as  to  the  rainfall  aud  discharge  of  the  stieaiua  and  other 
meteorological  couditious. 

That  is  partly  true,  and  in  reply  to  a  question  from  the  chairman — 

Your  oLservutioiis  have  euablod  you  to  understand  every  class  of  phenomena  aflect- 
ing  the  canal? 

The  answer  to  thart  is — 

Entirely. 

He  says: 

I  do  not  know  that  I  have  a  hnowledgo  of  what  is  termed  the  tegimen  of  the  rivers, 
but  I  have  the  maximum  and  minimum  of  the  rainfall  and  the  Hoods  for  a  number  of 
years. 

N^ow,  I  do  not  understand  that  statement.  Nobody  knows  the  max- 
imum flood  or  minimum  flood;  no  observations  have  ever  been  made. 
The  maximum  flow  of  the  San  Juan  has  never  been  measured  or  noted, 
to  anybody's  knowledge,  and  as  far  as  the  rainfall  is  concerned,  we  found 
the  company's  observations  were  extraordinarily  incomplete,  consider- 
ing the  seriousness  of  that  item  down  there.  They  had  a  three  years' 
record  at  Greytown,  which  was  all  very  well  and  good.  If  they  had  a 
three  years'  record  of  the  San  Francisco  Basin,  it  also  would  have  been 
valuable  where  these  great  clay  dams  have  to  be  built  under  the  rain- 
fall, and  the  Board  found  reason  to  believe  the  rainfall  in  the  San  Fran- 
cisco Basin  might  be  at  times,  and  even  for  long  periods,  as  heavy  as  it 
was  at  Greytown.  Over  on  the  western  division,  where  the  rainfall  is 
much  less  annually  than  on  the  eastern  division,  we  ourselves  exjieri- 
enced  a  tremendous  downfall,  which,  according  to  Dr.  Flint,  who  was 
the  observer  at  Rivas  for  that  region,  was  a  3-inch  rainfall.  I  mean  3 
inches  in  an  hour.     We  thought  it  might  be. 

Mr.  Stewart.  In  answer  to  the  chairman: 

Have  those  observatious  been  preserved? 

He  answers : 

Yes,  sir;  they  have  during  the  time  I  was  there.  They  have  not  been  peeserved 
for  an  uninterrupted  series  of  years,  as  they  should  have  been,  because  we  have  not 
remained  in  the  country  permanently ;  but  during  the  time  I  was  there  I  made 
observations  regularly. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Everything  needs  explanation.  During  the  time 
the  company  was  there  they  did  not  observe  the  maximum  and  minimum 
floods. 

Mr.  Sherman.  But  Mr.  Menocal  says  he  did? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  That  is  the  trouble, 

Mr.  Sherman.  Do  you  mean  to  say  he  did  not? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  They  have  not  the  records.  He  may  have  observed 
it,  although  he  qualifles  himself  in  saying  so.  It  may  be  true  he  did 
observe  it,  but  if  he  did  he  made  no  notes  of  it. 

Mr.  Sherman.  That  you  have  seen.  He  may  have  noted  that,  but 
you  do  not  mean  to  say  he  has  not  noted  that? 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  191 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Would  lie  have  kei»t  that  from  us  when  we  were 
investigating-  this  thing  last  suiiinier,  and  when  we  were  in  communi- 
cation with  the  caiKil  otlice  every  day,  writing  letters,  etc."^ 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Did  yon  ask  for  this  specihcally  i 

Colonel  Ludlow.  ForAvhat? 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  In  regard  to  the  rainfolls. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  asked  for  everything  they  had. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE,  But  did  you  ask  for  this  specitically? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  am  not  trying  to  get  away  from  you,  I  am  going 
to  tell  you  all  I  know  about  it.  The  correspondence  speaks  for  itself. 
We  did  ask,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  for  all  rainfall  observations,  and  got 
them  as  far  as  we  could,  and  we  recorded  them  as  a  part  of  the  report. 
We  asked  for  all  river  gaugings,  and  we  got  those  and  recorded  them, 
and  they  are  a  part  of  our  report.     That  is  specific  in  both  cases. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  I  want  to  ask  you  a  question  right  there.  Was  Mr. 
Menocal  at  the  company's  headquarters  during  all  the  time  you  were 
doing  your  work  in  New  York,  or  was  he  with  you? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Oh,  no;  he  was  sometimes  with  us.  As  I  under- 
stand, h^  vwas  not  regularly  in  the  com^^any's  oflice,  but  he  was  fre- 
quently in  there,  as  I  understand,  and  it  was  close  by  ours.  Mr.  Meno- 
cal had  his  own  duties  over  in  Brooklyn.  We  started  to  have  confer- 
ences together.  We  found  it  took  up  unnecessary  time  for  him  to  come 
from  Brooklyn  to  New  York  and  back  again,  and  took  him  away  from 
his  work,  and  we  found  afterwards  it  was  more  convenient  to  make 
the  inquiries  we  wanted  to  get  from  him  by  correspondence.  The 
canal  comj^any  placed  everything  at  our  disjiosal,  and  they  almost 
placed  entirely  at  our  disposal  Mr.  Bennett,  who  was  one  of  the  engi- 
neers and  draftsmen,  and  who  came  to  and  fro  in  and  out  of  the  ofiice. 
If  we  wanted  anything  we  sent  in  to  Mr.  Bennett  and  he  would  send  it 
over  or  see  Mr.  Atkins,  the  secretary,  who  would  of  course  instruct 
Mr.  Bennett. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  This  request  was  not  made  of  Mr.  Menocal  himself? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Of  Mr.  Menocal  himself,  personally'? 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Yes. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Well,  the  record  would  show.  We  have  copies  of 
all  the  letters  we  sent.  It  may  have  been  addressed  to  Mr.  Menocal. 
Sometimes  the  letters  would  be  sent  to  Mr.  Menocal  at  the  company's 
oflice,  and  it  might  be  answered  from  there,  possibly,  if  it  was  a  routine 
aflair,  without  being  referred  to  him. 

Mr.  Patterson.  It  perhaps  did  not  occur  to  you  if  he  made  the 
observations  they  would  be  found  elsewhere  than  in  the  company's 
record  ? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  could  not  expect  to  look  for  them  elsewhere. 
There  is  where  they  ought  to  have  been  because  they  were  so  extremely 
important. 

Mr.  Stewart.  You  note  he  states  these  observations  have  been 
observed  by  him? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  And  that  the  observations  made  were  noted,  but 
I  assure  you  that  these  things  are  carefully  recorded  as  well  as  we 
know  how. 

Mr.  Stewart.  He  says  he  made  these  observations,  and  that  these 
observations  have  been  preserved.    He  states  that  on  page  51. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  What  do  you  infer  from  that? 

Mr.  Stewart.  I  infer  you  contradict  that  statement. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Now,  what  do  you  infer  from  that ;  do  you  mean  as 
a  matter  of  fact  he  has  furnished  observations  to  someone  showing  the 
maximum  and  minimum  floods? 


192  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

Mr.  Stewart.  That  is  my  undeistanding. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  The  canal  eoini)any,  as  a  company,  knows  noth- 
ing about  it,  nor  any  member  of  it.  If  Mr.  Menocal  has  these  obser- 
vations it  is  not  of  knowledge  in  the  company's  office,  for  they  gave  us 
everything  they  had  freely  and  fully. 

Mr.  Stewart.  Did  you  specifically  ask  for  this  data? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Surely;  and  recorded  what  they  gave  us.  We 
were  trying  to  get  the  i^lane  of  the  rivers,  which  would  have  been  very 
valuable  to  us  if  we  could  have  found  what  the  height  of  the  water 
surface  was  at  that  time.  There  is  no  such  record.  On  the  top  of  the 
next  page  (52)  he  says : 

The  largest  flood  which  has  occurred  in  the  San  Juan  River  was  42,000  cubic  feet 
per  second. 

That  explains  that  other  statement  of  the  maximum  and  minimum 
flood  being  noted  and  preserved.  That  datum  relates  to  the  only  time 
the  company  ever  gauged  the  San  Juan  Kiver,  and  that  is  when  they 
got  the  42,000  feet,  or  approximately,  and  we  got  a  record  of  that. 
That  was  important.  Then  after  we  got  the  record  we  were  unable  to 
determine  from  all  the  statistics  we  could  get  what  the  height  of  the 
river  was  at  the  time  the  observation  Avas  made,  but  from  the  quantity 
given  it  is  perfectly  evident  that  the  river  was  not  very  much  more 
than  the  moderate  fall  stage.  There  is  no  question  about  any  flood, 
because  the  water  marks  were  so  much  higher.  I  now  look  at  a  paper 
formally  i^repared  by  the  chief  engineer  as  a  contribution  to  the 
World's  Columbian  Water  Congress  in  Chicago  in  1893.  This  was  pre- 
pared by  the  chief  engineer,  and  contains  a  great  deal  more  engineering 
information  than  all  the  company's  official  reports,  and  we  have  had 
frequent  occasion  to  go  over  that  and  the  other,  or  both,  as  they  are 
both  official.  This  is  more  particularly,  however,  addressed  to  the 
engineering  fraternity  of  the  world.  Now,  on  page  19  of  that  a  state- 
ment is  made  which  relates  to  the  only  gauging  the  company  made: 

The  flow  of  tlie  San  Juan  at  Ochoa  at  high  flood  in  both  tlie  San  Carlos  and  San 
Juan  has  been  found  by  careful  gauging  to  bo  42,000  cubic  feet. 

Now,  that  agrees  with  this  statement  here  of  42,000  feet,  although 
here  it  says  "iu  largest  floods."  Immediately  following  in  the  text  the 
statement  is  made — 

The  river  is  known  to  have  risen  somewhat  higher,  but  as  no  gauging  was  made 
at  the  time  the  above  figures  are  arbitrarily  increased  50  jier  cent  to  allow  for  a 
greater  rise. 

Evidently  the  observations  did  not  cover  the  high  points,  because 
the  chief  engineer  states  the  river  is  known  to  be  higher. 

I  think,  gentlemen,  you  are  getting  an  idea  of  some  of  the  difficult 
features  we  had  to  contend  with  in  forming  an  opinion  about  these 
matters  of  which  there  is  such  a  diversity  of  opinion.  The  failure  of 
two  statements  about  the  same  thing  to  cohere,  some  in  direct  oj^i^osi- 
tion  to  the  facts,  made  the  investigation  extraordinarily  difficult;  and 
yet  if  you  will  read  our  report  you  will  find  it  is  impartial  and  imper- 
sonal, and  constructed  on  a  purely  engineering  basis  witliout  reflec- 
tions on  anybody.  We  impute  nothing  to  anyone,  and  then  coming 
before  this  committee  we  find  everything  imputed  to  us — imbecility, 
incompetency,  inadequacy,  and 

Mr.  Sherman.  Where  do  you  find  that?  I  have  not  read  anything 
to  that  effect  here. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  You  read  this  as  I  have  been  reading  it.  I  read  it 
night  before  last  until  4  o'clock  in  the  morning  in  order  to  come  before 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  193 

the  coiiiiuittee  and  talk  about  it.  I  did  not  stay  up  that  late  la«t  night, 
although  1  was  a  little  late  iu  getting  down  here.  I  beg  you  to  believe 
I  am  not  endeavoring  to  trifle  with  the  committee  about  these  uiatters. 
I  recognize  their  seriousness,  and  I  am  fully  willing  to  accept  the 
responsibility  for  everything  I  say  here,  and  if  anyone  will  show  me  to 
be  in  error  I  will  be  the  first  to  make  acknowledgment. 

Mr.  SiiEKMAN.  I  think  that  statement  is  au  error. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Which? 

Mr.  Sherman.  That  anybody  has  imputed  to  you  "imbecility," 
which  you  stated  just  now? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Now,  look  here.  We  were  three  grown  engineers — 
men  of  lifty  odd  years  of  age;  and  they  come  here  and  say  that  we 
wandered  about;  that  we  were  fascinated  with  the  novelty  of  the  Trop- 
ics, and  that  getting  to  the  shore  Ave  bathed 

Mr.  Sherman.  Was  not  that  proper? 

Mr.  Ludlow.  I  am  sorry  that  it  should  be  found  necessary  to  note 
it.  We  thought  it  was  a  proper  thing.  We  needed  it;  but  to  have 
inferred  from  that  our  inability  to  handle  this  canal  i)roblem 

Mr.  Sherman.  I  do  not  think  anybody  could  so  construe  it. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  trust  not.  I  will  ask  the  committee  to  ])crmit  me 
to  go  back  a  moment  to  Mr.  Miller's  statement,  and  if  so,  1  will  promise 
not  to  do  so  any  more.  It  is  iu  regard  to  the  construction  on  the  river 
if  the  Ochoa  Dam  should  fail.  That  is  on  page  14  of  Mr.  Miller's  testi- 
mony, which  only  shows  how  difficult  it  is  to  tell  the  truth.  You  have 
to  be  very  careful  in  engineering  questions.  It  is  a  delicate  matter  and 
you  have  to  qualify  yourself  and  to  be  sure,  because  what  you  say  may 
be  capable  of  misconstruction  and  people  will  not  understand  you. 
Even  in  ordinary  nuitters  it  happens  that  way,  and  in  technical  matters 
it  is  very  difficult  and  you  have  to  be  very  guarded.  At  the  bottom  of 
the  page  Mr.  Bartlett  inquired: 

Sujipose  the  dam  gives  way,  would  it  destroy  the  canal? 

Mr.  Miller  says : 

No,  sir;  the  water  would  go  down  the  original  channel  of  the  San  Juan  and  the 
canal  would  be  left  dry  and  uninjured. 

Well,  that  is  true.  It  was  in  reference  to  the  statement  made  by  the 
board  that  the  failure  of  the  dam  would  destroy  the  navigation.  Mr, 
Miller  considers,  however,  it  would  not  injure  the  canal;  that  the  dam 
might  fail,  but  it  would  not  injure  the  canal,  and  that  the  water  would 
go  down  the  river  and  the  canal  be  left  absolutely  safe  and  unharmed, 
and  he  takes  the  precaution  to  suggest  also  that  it  would  be  left  dry. 
Now,  how  much  canal  is  there  when  the  water  is  out  of  it?  Where  is 
your  canal'?     It  is  a  mere  trench  iu  the  ground. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  I  would  like  to  state  in  that  connection  it  has  been 
stated  to  members  of  the  committee  that  all  the  embankments  along 
these  basins  below  there  would  be  destroyed  by  reason  of  the  giving 
out  of  the  dam.  That  is  the  reason  why  this  statement  was  made 
there. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Then  that  needs  qualification. 

Mr.  Sherman.  If  the  dam  gives  way,  would  it  destroy  the  canal? 

Mr.  Wanger.  You  seem  to  agree  with  him. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  think  the  canal,  as  a  canal,  would  disappear.  It 
is  not  a  canal  without  water  in  it. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Evidently  Mr.  Bartlett  had  in  mind  perhaps  if  the 
dam  was  washed  away  or  destroyed  that  the  effect  would  be  to  injure 
N  c 13 


194  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

the  locks,  because  of  tlie  giving  iu  of  the  banks  and  obstruction  of  the 
trench? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Well,  as  far  as  the  locks  are  concerned,  they  would 
be  on  the  other  side  of  the  divide,  and  possibly 

Mr.  Stewart.  You  can  remove  the  water  from  a  goblet  and  the  glass 
itself  will  not  be  injured,  and  the  same  way  witli  the  canal. 

Colonel  LiTDLOW.  Is  an  empty  goblet  a  drink  of  water? 

Mr.  Stewart,  ^ot  at  all.  But  it  is  not  the  cause  of  that  glass  of 
water,  and  the  canal  itself  and  the  physical  conditions  of  the  embank- 
ments, etc.,  are  great  items,  which  I  take  Mr.  Bartlett  iu  his  question 
had  reference  to  ? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Very  well,  I  will  be  pleased  to  answer  that;  but  at 
the  same  time  I  would  answer  Mr.  Miller's  idea  that,  the  water  running 
out  of  the  canal,  the  canal  would  be  uninjured,  that  a  canal  without 
water  is  still  a  canal. 

Mr.  Joy.  The  idea  is  the  cost  of  building  the  canal  is  $150,000,000, 
does  not  mean  the  water  shall  be  manufactured  to  fill  it  up,  but  the 
water  we  get  for  nothing.  The  destruction  of  the  canal  would  not  be 
the  destruction  of  the  water.  There  would  be  too  much  water,  per- 
haps, at  different  places,  but  the  cost  of  the  canal  is  what  it  cost  to 
build  it,  $150,000,000? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  That  is  quite  true. 

Mr.  Joy.  That  is  apj)arently  the  intention  of  the  question. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  think  it  quite  likely.  AVe  make  the  point  it 
would  leave  navigation  stranded  and  do  great  damage  below. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Let  me  put  it  to  you  in  that  connection.  Suppose 
the  dam  at  Ochoa  should  be  washed  out,  and  the  flood  would  go  down 
the  river,  as  stated  here  by  Mr.  Miller? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  That  is  stated  in  our  report. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Now,  would  that  affect  the  channel  of  the  canal? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes,  sir;  I  think  it  would — very  seriously. 

Mr.  Patterson.  In  other  words,  if  the  dam  was  reconstructed,  would 
anything  have  occurred  in  the  meantime  to  interfere  possibly  with  the 
navigation  of  the  canal? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Well,  I  will  answer  that  directly.  The  point  of 
danger  to  the  canal  banks  in  the  case  of  the  failure  of  the  Ochoa  Dam 
would  be  this  great  embankment,  which  2  miles  below  the  Ochoa 
Dam  constitutes  the  banks  of  the  canal.  There  are  tremendous  great 
clay  fills,  and  it  is  Avhat  is  known  as  the  San  Francisco  embankment, 
and  the  outrush  of  this  great  body  of  water  downstream  would  undoubt- 
edly have  a  very  serious  effect  and  might  have  a  destroying  effect  on 
those  banks. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  Well,  if  they  are  built  of  sufficient  thickness  and  of 
proper  material  rightly  placed,  you  do  not  think  these  banks  will  slide 
in  or  out? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  A  clay  till  with  such  a  body  of  water  pouring 
against  it  melts  away  pretty  rapidly.  You  remember  the  Johnstown 
flood? 

]\Ir.  DooLTTTLE.  Quitc  Avell. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  There  were  some  features  in  connection  with  that 
which  somewhat  apply  to  this,  supposing  that  dam  should  break  at 
Ochoa.  Furthermore,  you  would  have  the  stranding  of  the  ships  which 
might  be  in  that  canal,  which  would  not  be  very  comfortable  for  them. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  But  you  believe  these  embankments  might  be  so 
constructed  that  they  would  stand? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Kot  easily;  no,  sir. 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  195 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Not  easily;  but  1  mean  with  professional  ease. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  They  never  would  stand  that  kind  of  a  rush.  I 
think  the  action  of  a  powerful  current  against  them  on  the  outside 
would  be  very  destructive.  Any  engineer  will  tell  you  that.  Then, 
there  would  be  no  canal  at  all  until  you  could  build  it  again,  and  for  four 
or  live  years  trafdc  would  cease  until  the  dam  and  banks  were  restored. 
I  noted  that,  because  I  thought  possibly  some  members  of  the  committee 
wanted  information  on  that  snbject,  as  it  was  an  interesting  point.  In 
regard  to  the  tlood  in  the  San  Juan,  we  have  two  differing  statements 
of  that  tlood  by  the  chief  engineer,  one  in  one  paper  and  one  in  the 
other,  relating  to  the  same  subject  and  same  observations. 

Mr.  Wanger.  Is  there  any  serious  difficulty  except  the  expense  of 
facing  the  embankments  from  the  cut? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  The  San  Francisco  embankments  ?  It  would  proba- 
bly be  extremely  desirable  to  cover  them  with  a  riprap  of  rock  to  j)ro- 
tect  them  from  the  wash  of  the  rainfall. 

Mr,  NooNAN.  The  testimony  here  is  that  these  clay  banks  are  not 
susceptible  to  rainfalls,  and  that  they  stand  there  well. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes;  another  misapprehension,  you  see.  If  the 
committee  has  that  idea,  I  woukl  like  to  correct  it. 

Mr.  NooNAN.  We  would  like  to  hear  that,  because  the  specific  state- 
ment was  made  here  that  the  marks  are  still  visible  made  in  the  cuts, 
etc.,  while  at  work  there? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Precisely;  the  board  makes  that  statement.  We 
put  that  in  our  report. 

Mr.  NooNAN.  Then,  what  is  the  necessity  for  rijirapping? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  For  the  simple  reason  that  a  cut  in  solidified 
material  is  a  very  different  thing  from  xjiliug  up  material  to  make  a 
bank.  You  get  in  one  case  the  earth  naturally  consolidated  in  which 
to  make  that  cut.  When  you  undertake  to  take  that  material  out  and 
dump  it  and  try  to  solidify  it,  there  is  where  the  trouble  begins,  and 
that  is  the  serious  problem  relating  to  the  building  of  these  dams  in 
order  to  solidify  them  and  make  them  hard,  compact,  and  water-tight 
against  these  tremendous  amounts  of  water. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  That  would  be  tamping  and  all  that  process  which 
you  use? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  In  my  mind  I  do  not  know  exactly  how  you  can  do 
that,  and  as  we  say  in  our  report  it  is  difficult.  Ordinarily  it  would  be 
done  by  animals  hauling  rollers  over  it  trying  to  solidify  it  in  six  inch 
layers.  That  is  the  way  a  reservoir  bank  is  built,  but  in  this  case  you 
possibly  can  not  get  your  animals  out  on  this  bank.  You  have  got  there 
a  vast  quantity  of  clay  which  is  mud  when  you  wet  it,  and  it  will  never 
have  a  chance  to  get  dry,  and  you  can  not  roll  it  over,  and  if  you  try  to 
put  animals  out  on  it  they  could  not  get  far  enough  to  pull  anything, 
and  you  will  find  in  the  report  there  we  suggest  it  will  probably  have 
to  be  done  by  overhead  cable  which  you  would  use  to  deposit  material, 
and  you  use  the  same  power,  if  you  choose,  to  haul  these  rollers  to  and 
fro.     You  can  not  adopt  ordinary  methods  of  doing  it. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Do  you  assume  the  land  can  be  solidified  so  as  to 
make  it  imi)ervious  to  water  by  this  process? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  do  not  assume,  but  I  should  hope  to  do  so;  I 
should  try  to  do  so  in  some  way.  That  construction,  you  understand, 
of  clay  dams  is  really  one  of  the  most  serious  things  in  the  engineering. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  It  is  the  most  important  in  this  thing"? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  is  extremely  important  for  the  construction  of 
that  San  Francisco  embankment;  and  it  is  admitted  by  the  chief  engi- 


lOG  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

neer  himself  tliat  he  regards  it  as  the  most  difficult  and  dangerous 
work  on  the  whole  route. 

]\lr.  DooLiTTLE.  That  is  the  real  key  to  a  large  part  of  the  situation, 
so  far  as  the  caual  |)roject  is  coucerned.  That  was  the  strip  you  said 
Mr.  Menocal  had  uot  passed  over  yesterday  ! 

Colonel  LuiJLOW.  Yes,  sir;  there  was  some  portion  of  it  there. 
There  are  two  lines  there — the  canal  liue  and  the  embankment  line. 
The  canal  goes  through  the  bottom  of  the  basin,  and  you  do  not  do  any- 
thing on  the  canal  line  because  it  is  drowned  out.  Mr.  Menocal  says 
he  regards  that  embankment  line  as  the  most  dangerous  part  of  the 
whole  work. 

]Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  The  most  important  part,  does  he  not  state"? 

Colonel  LuDLO\Y.  Where  does  he  speak  of  that? 

Mr.  Endicott.  He  says  that  is  the  weakest  part.  You  will  And  it  in 
the  report  of  1890. 

Mr.  Patterson.  That  is  immaterial. 

Mr,  DOOLITTLE.  Of  course  it  is.  I  merely  referred  to  it  in  passing 
and  do  not  care  to  take  up  time  with  it. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  had  that  matter  about  having  passed  by  the 
site  of  the  Ochoa  IJam  and,  I  only  wanted  to  say  we  landed  Sunday  after- 
noon. AVe  took  that  afternoon  to  examine  the  site  of  the  dam  and  the 
whole  vicinity  of  it  on  that  side.  There  w^as  not  much  to  see,  but  we 
went  on  up  the  line  of  the  crest  and  put  in  a  most  difficult  afternoon's 
work,  and  the  next  morning  we  crossed  the  river  and  examined  the 
other  bank,  went  over  every  slope,  examined  the  hills  where  the  dam 
was  to  land,  and  continued  and  went  on  uj)  this  San  Carlos  ridge  10  or 
12  miles. 

]\Ir.  DOOLITTLE.  Where  is  the  earth,  to  come  from  to  build  this  San 
Francisco  embankment *? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  was  proposed  to  take  the  greater  part,  or  i^er- 
haps  all  of  it — the  canal  project  rather  indicates  they  should  get  the 
whole  amount  of  it,  from  the  excavation  of  the  east  divide  cut.  There 
is  a  very  heavy  body  of  clay  overlying  the  rock  and  it  is  proposed  to 
use  that.  There  is  not  really,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  enough  clay  in  that 
divide  to  build  these  embankments. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  But  there  is  plenty  in  the  adjacent  hills? 

Ct)lonel  Ludlow.  Yes;  you  would  have  to  borrow  from  the  neighbor- 
hood. 

Mr.  NooNAN.  I  understand  you  have  seen  the  embankments  in  India  ? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  No;  I  have  never  been  there.  I  would  like  to,  but 
I  have  only  seen  the  drawings  and  technical  accounts  of  them.  I  have 
some  books  which  I  was  able  to  have  sent  over  from  London  last  sum- 
mer while  we  were  examining  this  thing.  You  will  find  some  data  on 
that  subject  in  our  report  about  these  India  weirs.  They  are  very 
interesting  structures  and  very  peculiar.  They  have  been  built  there 
for  a  long  time;  some  of  them  are  very  ancient. 

]\Ir.  NooNAN.  I  supposed  that  was  part  of  your  mission. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  should  have  been  very  glad  to  have  gone  there, 
but  if  1  had  gone  that  far  1  might  not  have  had  the  jdeasure  of  getting 
back  to  meet  the  committee.  They,  however,  only  gave  me  certain 
designated  i)oints  which  I  was  to  go  to  see.  If  it  had  not  been  for  the 
Nicaragua  Canal  matter  I  should  perhaps  have  been  in  India,  as  I 
hoped  to  arrange  it  as  military  attache  there. 

lically  I  think  in  a  certain  sense  there  is  an  explanation  of  a  good 
many  of  these  things,  the  confusion  between  preliminary  survey  and 
final  survey  and  the  necessity  for  further  survey  and  all  that,  as  indi- 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  15)7 

cated  by  Mr.  ^VFeiiocal  in  the  middle  of  page  55,  where  he  states,  which 
really  I  did  uot  know  aud  had  not  in  mind  at  all,  because  I  did  not 
look  iuto  the  matter: 

The  final  survey  should  be  completed  within  eighteen  months  from  the  date  of  the 
concession. 

That  is  all  right;  of  course  surveys  had  to  be  completed  in  the  sense 
of  being  completed  and  prepared  and  sufliciently  coherent  to  answer 
such  purpose.  The  mistake,  of  course,  was  retaining  it  as  a  finality, 
using  it  otherwise. 

Mr.  DooLTTTLE.  Do  you  think  in  going  over  all  these  statements 
made  by  Senator  Miller  and  IMr.  Menocal  that  they  have  ever  ])rofessed 
that  no  more  surveys  or  investigations  were  necessary  up  to  the  time 
work  should  be  completed  f  Are  not  these  surveys  going  on  contin- 
uously, always  during  the  performance  of  any  great  work  on  railroads 
or  anything  else? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Not  usually;  no. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Are  not  engineers  constantly  engaged  on  the  work 
making  surveys'? 

Colonel  LuuLOW.  After  you  build  a  railroad? 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  While  you  are  constructing  a  railroad  or  any  other 
great  engineering  work. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Oh,  certainly.  But  it  does  not  follow  that  you  do 
not  have  to  make  an  investigation  thoroughly  at  the  start,  or  that  you 
can  go  on  and  build  and  survey  concurrently.  Some  portion  of  this  canal 
you  can  start  to-morrow;  the  information  is  ample.  There  is  ])lenty  of 
this  work  you  can  start  in  on  to-morrow,  if  you  desire  so  to  do.  The 
object  of  a  survey  is  to  determine  what  to  do  and  what  is  best  to  do; 
that  is  all. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  To  such  an  extent  as  would  require  the  expenditure 
of  a  million  of  dollars  or  so? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  That  is  very  true.  You  can  commence  improving 
the  San  Juan  River  to-morrow. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  And  the  rock  cut? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes,  sir;  and  dredging  out  on  the  lake. 

Mr.  Joy.  There  was  a  question  I  wanted  to  ask  last  night.  You  say 
you  found  the  level  of  the  Lake  Nicaragua  varied  several  feet,  and  you 
still  admit  the  canal  is  a  feasible  project.  I  want  to  ask  you  how,  in 
your  opinion,  that  level  of  the  lake  could  be  maintained,  or  the  canal 
or  river  between  the  Ochoa  Dam  and  the  lake  could  be  maintained,  at 
a  stable  depth  with  the  lake  changing  in  its  level  to  the  extent  you  indi- 
cate it? 

Colonel  Ludlow,  l^ou  have  got  to  control  it- 
Mr.  Joy.  By  what  means  and  in  what  direction?  I  ask  for  personal 
information. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Quite  right,  and  it  is  a  nmtter  to  which  the  board 
gave  days  and  nights  of  most  careful  consideration,  using  the  data  we 
liad.     You  will  iind  it  treated  at  considerable  length  in  our  report. 

Mr.  Joy.  I  read  that,  but  it  was  not  as  comi)lete  as  possible,  and  I 
tliought  perhaps  at  this  time  you  Avould  be  able  to  elucidate  it. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  If  I  had  a  diagram,  I  amid  explain  it  better  per- 
haps; but  our  discussion,  if  you  please,  in  the  report  was  based  upon 
the  idea  that  the  lake  was  not  to  be  allowed  to  fall  below  a  certain  fixed 
quantity. 

Mr.  Joy.  You  say  there  is  a  difference  of  3  feet,  5  feet,  or  more  in  the 
level  of  the  lake.    Could  that  difference  be  overcome  to  such  an  extent 


198  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

as  to  maintaiu  the  river  above  tlie  Ochoa  Dams  at  30  feet  of  water,  or  a 
given  deptli  of  water"? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  think  it  can  be  done. 

Mr.  Joy.  But  what  means  would  you  adopt  to  do  it? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  The  first  thing  to  do  would  be  to  raise  the  Ochoa 
Dam  and  everything  that  applied  to  it  to  an  elevation  sufficient  to  main- 
tain the  lake  surface  at  or  above  the  datum  you  determine  to  have.  In 
these  circumstances,  as  the  Board  looks  at  the  matter,  during  the  dry 
season,  wliile  the  lake  is  wasting  and  the  rains  are  not  falling,  the  water 
surface  will  be  practically  horizontal  in  the  lake,  and  all  the  way  down 
the  river  to  the  dam  practically  horizontal;  and,  in  fact,  the  Board  con- 
sidered it  might  even  be  necessary  in  the  dry  season  to  make  the  eleva- 
tion such  as  to  hold  the  water  to  a  higher  level  than  the  datum  plane 
or  summit  level,  in  order  to  allow  for  a  possible  fall.  Then,  having  done 
that,  the  difficulty  comes  in  the  rainy  season  when  the  lake  begins  to 
rise,  and  it  is  evident,  unless  you  are  going  to  drown  out  that  basin  and 
allow  the  whole  variation  of  the  lake  to  accumulate  on  the  top  of  that 
summit  level  and  fill  up  there,  you  will  have  to  make  some  provision 
for  letting  it  run  o&.  So  that,  whereas  in  the  dry  season  the  slope  is 
horizontal,  in  the  wet  season  you  have  to  steepen  that  slope,  in  order 
to  prevent  the  accumulation  of  water,  and  you  have  to  discharge  the 
surplus  water  out  of  the  lake,  and  consequently  have  to  have  a  steeper 
slope  to  d(»  so.  Therefore,  it  involves  the  necessity  of  having  some 
arrangement,  some  adjustment  at  the  dam  which  can  be  worked  so  as 
to  shut  and  open,  either  sluices  or  movable  weirs,  so  as  to  hold  the 
water  up  by  shutting  the  gates,  and  when  the  weirs  are  open  to  let  the 
flood  go  out  that  would  otherwise  drown  out  the  basin  above. 

Mr.  Joy.  Is  there  any  considerable  portion  of  the  country  between 
this  point — Ochoa  Dam  and  the  lake — which  at  high  water  with  the 
Oclioa  Dam  built  of  sufficient  elevation  would  be  continually  overflowed 
by  the  deepening  of  that  riv^er  and  the  backing  up  the  water? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  In  the  valley  it  is;  it  w^ould  be  enormously  over- 
flowed. We  raise  the  water  at  Ochoa  sixty  odd  feet.  It  is  proposed  by 
that  dam  to  flood  that  whole  valley,  and  the  San  Carlos  Valley  to  boot, 
all  the  way  back  to  the  lake.  You  make  a  vast  expanse  of  water  there 
where  the  banks  are  low.  Of  course,  where  the  banks  are  high  you 
oidy  flood  what  the  water  reaches.  It  is  the  same  way  up  the  San 
Carlos  A^alley.  There  are  twenty  odd  miles  that  will  be  flooded.  You 
do  not,  however,  want  to  drown  any  more  laud  in  there  than  you  can 
help. 

Now,  I  could  multiidy  the  points  that  these  people  have  objected  to, 
but  I  will  not  impose  on  the  committee.  I  am  at  the  Chairman's  service 
now. 

The  Chairman.  I  wish  you  would  give  us  some  information  of  what 
you  observed  there  of  the  remains  of  work  done  by  the  company  in  the 
general  furtherance  of  this  enterprise,  either  at  Greytown  or  anywhere 
in  regard  to  piers,  excavations,  etc. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  The  work  done  by  the  company  was  concentrated 
at  Greytown;  that  is,  all  the  construction  work  was  done  there. 

The  Chairman.  What  did  you  find  remained  of  their  work? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  found  the  remains  of  dredging  of  the  harbor 
in  the  shape  of  mounds  of  sand  thrown  up  by  the  dredgers  when  they 
were  excavating  there.  We  found  the  remains  of  a  pier  at  the  beach. 
We  found  three-iourths  of  a  mile  of  canal  excavated  from  the  Grey- 
town hi  goon  in  the  direction  of  the  canal  toward  tlie  hills.  We  found 
a  railroad  11  or  12  miles  running  from  Greytown  to  the  foothills  to  the 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  199 

site  of  the  locks.  We  found  several  dredges,  and  we  found  a  large 
number  of  buildings — extensive  buildings — hospitals,  headquarters, 
offices,  and  resident  buildings  belonging  to  the  company  and  built  by 
them.  I  think  that  covers  about  all  of  the  construction  and  plant  we 
noticed.     There  were  locomotives,  etc.,  and  quite  a  variety  of  material. 

The  Chairman.  What  did  you  find  in  regard  to  the  channel  in  the 
harbor? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  There  is  no  channel.  The  channel  that  was  made 
by  the  company  when  they  were  working  there  is  completely  filled  up. 
It  could  only  be  kept  open  by  dredging. 

The  Chahiman.  Will  that  be  the  case  for  all  time'?  Will  it  be  pos- 
sible to  secure  by  any  engineering  device  a  channel  that  would  preserve 
itself? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  No,  I  regard  that  as  out  of  the  question.  That  is 
hardly  the  case  anywhere,  Mr.  Chairman. 

The  Chairman.  What  is  your  idea,  or  did  you  make  any  estimates 
of  the  annual  dredging  that  would  be  necessary  to  x)reserve  a  channel 
commensurate  with  the  uses  of  the  canal? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  No,  sir;  we  really  did  not  go  into  that  inquiry  at  all. 

The  Chairman.  Li  your  judgment,  will  that  be  a  matter  of  consid- 
erable cost  ? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  There  will  be,  I  think,  a  considerable  cost  for  main- 
tenance there. 

The  Chairman.  To  what  distance  seaward  will  they  have  to  use  the 
dredges  in  order  to  preserve  a  28-foot  or  30-foot  channel? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  They  would  have  to  go  at  least  that  far. 

The  Chairman.  How  far? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  To  the  28  and  30  foot  depth.  I  do  not  know  liow 
far  that  would  be. 

The  Chairman.  But  how  far  from  the  shore? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  That  would  depend  on  the  rapidity  with  which  the 
shore  moved  out.  It  was  found  on  the  east  side  of  the  pier  built  by 
the  comi)any  that  the  beach  followed  out — that  the  sand  accunuilated 
against  it  on  the  east  side  followed  very  rapidly  toward  the  end  of  the 
pier  until  when  we  were  there  the  shore  line  was  out  fully  to  the  end  of 
the  pier  and  the  beach  had  swept  on  by  and  made  a  dry  bar  on  the  other 
side,  the  entrance  being  at  some  little  distance  from  the  pier. 

The  Chairman.  What  machinery  did  you  find  there? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  found  three  or  four  dredges  which  were  the 
most  prominent  objects.  There  were  machine  shops  and  a  lot  of  boats, 
scows, and  so  on,  on  the  bank;  quite  an  accumulation  of  material  of 
various  kinds — three  or  four  locomotives  and  sheds.  The  pier  was 
there. 

The  Chairman.  What  was  its  condition? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Well,  its  condition  was — the  woodwork  was  about 
gone,  and  the  piles  had  been  badly  eaten  by  the  teredo  and  the  timber 
was  much  decayed;  but  some  was  in  pretty  fair  condition,  as  there  was 
concrete  inside 

The  Chairman.  Would  any  of  it  be  of  value  now  in  completing  the 
canal,  or  would  it  have  to  be  replaced? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  would,  provided  the  entrance  to  the  harbor  was 
retained  at  the  place  proposed  by  the  company. 

The  Chairman.  Suppose  that  entrance  was  retained,  what  would 
you  estimate  the  present  value  of  that  work? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Well,  in  a  case  like  that,  of  course  it  has  no  com- 
mercial value 


200  NICARAGUA   CANAL. 

Tlie  Chairman.  But  as  part  of  the  completed  construction'? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  lias  no  commercial  value  in  such  a  case,  and  the 
value  ot  a  work  like  this  is  its  usefulness.  In  one  way  I  should  say  the 
value  of  tliat  work  is  exactly  the  price  it  would  cost  to  put  something 
in  there  to  do  the  same  work. 

The  Chairman.  That  is  what  I  meant  to  be  understood"? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  That  is  what  I  think.  I  think  the  jn-esent  value 
of  that  work  is  about  what  it  would  cost  to  substitute  something  if  it 
were  not  there. 

The  Chairman.  The  line  of  this  questioning  and  the  jmrpose  of  it  is 
this:  1  want  to  find  out  what  there  is  of  value  there  now — its  present 
value  as  a  i)art  of  this  great  enterprise? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  The  value  of  the  jetty  depends  entirely  upon 
whether  you  propose  to  keep  the  entrance  there  or  not. 

The  Chairman.  Suppose  you  did? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Then  the  jetty  is  worth  what  it  would  cost  to  imt 
something  there  to  take  the  place  of  it. 

The  Chairman.  What  would  that  cost! 

Colonel  Ludlow.  There  is  900  feet  of  it,  I  think. 

The  Chairman.  Just  approximate  it. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  estimate  to  put  in  a  jetty — I  generally  like  to 
speak  by  the  book,  if  I  can  find  it — we  estimated  to  put  in  a  temporary 
pile  jetty  for  temporary  purposes  of  securing  an  entrance.  Tiiat  is  esti- 
mated at  about,  I  think,  $70  a  foot.  The  board,  however,  does  not 
believe  we  ought  to  endeavor  to  make  an  entrance  there. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  This  is  only  a  temporary  pier,  and  does  not  include 
the  rock  work,  which  is  of  course  the  most  important  of  all  things  in 
connection  with  the  jetty. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  That  does  not  include  final  rock  work,  but  it  has 
rock  in  it. 

I\rr.  Joy.  That  would  be  $63,000. 

The  Chairman.  What  are  these  dredges  worth? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  do  not  know.  I  do  not  think  they  are  worth 
anything.  Tlie  woodwork  is  worth  nothing;  what  the  machinery  is 
worth,  wliat  condition  it  is  in  I  do  not  know,  but  it  is  badly  rusted  and 
worn  out,  and  is  of  an  ancient  tyj)e  anyway.  I  do  not  think  it  would 
pay  to  try  to  use  those  dredges  except  for  temporary  purposes. 

The  Chairman.  What  do  you  estimate  the  present  value  of  the  rail- 
road and  its  rolling  stock? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Well,  the  rolling  stock  I  should  not  charge  up  as 
worth  anything.  I  do  not  know  what  is  the  condition  of  the  loco- 
motives. 'I'hey  were  under  the  sheds,  but  the  climnte  is  very  trying  on 
ironwork  and  they  are  rusted  up.  I  would  lump  the  whole  business, 
rolling  stock  and  dredges,  and  let  somebody  take  it  for  scrap.  The 
roadbed  is  there  and  has  a  definite  value  and  is  worth  what  it  cost, 
])ractically. 

The  Chairman.  How  much  would  it  cost  to  make  the  excavation 
that  has  been  made  in  the  canal  proper? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  To  make  that  same  excavation?  I  do  not  remem- 
ber the  cube  of  it  which  was  taken  out. 

Mr.  J<:ndicott.  It  cost  them  $80,000  at  11  cents  a  yard. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  That  is  its  value  provided  you  retain  the  entrance 
where  it  is. 

The  Chairman.  But  if  you  change  the  harbor,  that  would  be  lost? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Oh,  yes;  you  lose  any  use  of  the  pier. 

The  Chairman.  What  is  the  value  of  the  buildings? 


NICARAGUA   CANAL. 


201 


Colonol  Ludlow.  I  do  not  know,  sir.  We  found  tlie  bnildings  in 
very  fair  condition ;  they  are  in  good  condition  indeed  considering  the 
time  they  have  been  there  and  the  laclv  of  care  they  had. 

The  Chairman.  Can  yon  give  the  valne  approximately? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  do  not  know  really  what  the  buildings  cost.  I 
understand,  however,  they  cost  a  great  deal,  because  they  came  from 
Chicago  and  had  to  be  shipped  and  put  up  again,  and  so  on.  Of  course 
there  is  nothing  in  the  country  to  do  anything  with,  and  I  presume  the 
cost  was  something  frightful. 

The  Chairman.  What  would  be  a  fair  estimate  of  the  cost  of  accu- 
mulating the  engineering  data  that  you  regard  is  of  value"? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Well,  we  estimated  the  cost  of  getting  what  was 
imperatively  needed  at  $350,000. 

The  Chairman.  What  I  want  to  find  out  is,  what  would  be  a  fair 
estimate  of  the  cost  of  that  which  they  had  accumulated,  that  is,  ot 
present  value  I 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Well,  you  see,  all  the  information  they  have  accu- 
mulated is  of  value.  I  do  not  know  what  their  expenses  were;  perhaps 
$250,000  or  $300,000,  but  I  do  not  know;  but  I  should  say  it  was  that. 
They  were  there  a  good  deal  and  had  a  good  many  parties  out.  Atone 
time  they  had  as  many  as  eight  small  parties,  I  think,  out.  I  think 
those  surveys  ought  to  be  worth  what  it  cost  to  get  them. 

The  Chairman.  What  portion  of  the  canal  has  been  cleared  of  tim- 
ber? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Of  the  wood?  Why,  a  large  part  of  it  has  been. 
I  do  not  think  it  has  been  cleared  from  Greytown  to  the  foothills  on 
the  canal  route. 

Mr.  Endicott.  Not  in  there  by  Lock  No.  1. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  do  not  think  that  part  has  been  cleared.  There 
is  no  use  clearing  in  there,  as  it  is  swamp.  A  picket  has  been  cut  out 
quite  wide  and  comparatively  clear  through  the  east  divide  cut,  and  it 
is  comi^aratively  cleared  through  the  San  Francisco  district,  not  neces- 
sarily over  the  canal  line,  because  much  of  that  runs  in  the  bottoms 
which  will  be  drowned  out  according  to  the  project.  There  is  a  picket 
cut  out  on  the  crest  line,  so  we  could  follow  it.  Well,  that  is  all  about 
as  far  as  Ochoa.  Over  on  the  San  Carlos  ridge  there  is  a  i»icket  there 
partly  cut  out.  On  the  west  side  the  clearing  there  has  been  quite 
extensive,  quite  broad,  several  hundred  feet  or  more,  and  from  the  lake 

seaward  until  you  get  to  the  divide 

'     Mr.  Endicott.  There  is  practically  no  timber  in  there. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  There  is  no  standing  timber  in  that  region.  For 
heavy  tropical  timber  it  is  too  dry  in  the  summer. 

The  Chairman,  Is  that  i^ortion  reaching  from  Greytown  to  the  hills 
submerged? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  is  swamp  and  of  tropical  growth. 

The  Chairman.  Did  you  traverse  that  I 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  could  not.  We  went  over  the  railroad  three 
times.  You  can  not  go  through  that  swamp  except  by  a  canoe  or 
something  of  the  kind,  and  there  is  no  object  in  going  over  it.  It  is 
swamp,  and  naturally  you  go  up  by  railroad  and  see  what  the  construc- 
tion is.  There  is  no  use  of  wading  through  a  lake  or  swamp,  as  you 
can  look  at  it  for  five  minutes  and  know  as  much  as  if  you  looked  at  it 
for  five  years. 

The  Chairman.  All  of  that  work  will  be  submerged  excavation? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes;  that  will  be  wet  excavation,  dredging  work. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Will  not  that  drain  that  swamp  when  it  is  con- 
structed? 


202 


NICARAGUA   CANAL. 


Colonel  Ludlow.  Oli,  yes;  it  will  assist  materially  in  doing  it.  Of 
course  you  can  not  get  it  dry  with  the  rainfall,  but  it  will  hel})  materially. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  The  railroad  is  built  through  the  same  character  of 
land,  is  it  not"? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  No;  it  gets  a  little  difficult  as  you  get  farther 
along — the  part  down  here  is  sand  and  a  little  clay,  and  as  you  go  far- 
ther along  you  lose  the  sand. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  I  mean  the  railroad  as  built  there  is  in  the  swamp? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  So  far  as  anybody  knows,  it  is  just  the  same — a 
mixture  of  sand,  mud,  and  clay. 

Mr.  NooNAN.  I  understood  Mr.  Menocal  to  say  when  you  were  there 
yon  designated  another  point  of  entrance  to  the  harbor? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Noon  AN.  Why  were  you  impelled  to  do  that? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  treated  at  some  length  the  reasons  for  that  in 
our  report.  We  believed  there  was  certainly  danger  of  starting  in  on 
a  h()])C']ess  fight  to  make  an  entrance  there,  because  it  is  too  near  the 
west  beach.     The  sand  accumulates  there  from  both  directions. 

Mr.  Noon  AN.  Well,  the  tilling  you  speak  of;  will  you  avoid  that  by 
having  the  new  place? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  You  will  not  avoid  all  the  filling,  but  you  will 
have  it  in  a  reduced  quantity.  You  get  better  conditions.  Further- 
more, going  a  little  farther  down  and  running  at  right  angles  to  the 
beach  you  get  8  fathoms  of  water,  which  on  this  route  is  reached  at 
2,000  feet  from  shore,  and  we  believe  at  less  trouble  of  maintenance. 
That  is  the  real  reason  of  changing  the  position. 

Mr,  DooLiTTLE.  Which  is  the  direction  of  the  drift  given  by  the 
current  ? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  There  is  no  current. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Well,  I  mean  by  the  sea? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  The  action  of  the  wind  on  the  beach? 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  I  mean  the  current  there. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  has  no  current. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Is  not  there  a  current  setting  in  from  the  northwest 
down  there?     Do  not  the  winds  prevail  from  that  direction? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  The  winds  blow  from  about  east  to  northeast. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  The  sand  then  drifts  about  that  point? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  have  not  a  maj)  here  on  which  I  could  show 
you.  This  large  affair  is  not  a  map,  but  a  diagram  intended  to  illus- 
trate the  general  features  of  the  project;  but  perhaps  I  can  do  some- 
thing with  it.  Near  that  projecting  point  of  laud  called  Harbor  Head 
there  is  a  nearly  o^ien  sea,  and  when  the  waves  come  in  at  about  an 
angle  of  45  degrees  on  the  beach  it  runs  a  little  southwesterly  to  a 
l)oint  toward  the  town.  Then  the  beach  takes  a  turn  and  goes  up 
this  way  [illustrating]  and  curves  up  well  from  there  and  makes  a  bay 
like  this,  and  there  is  another  cape  called  Monkey  Point,  which  is  about 
due  north  of  Greytown,  making  a  bay.  We  found  reasons  to  believe 
and  are  entirely  satisfied  that  the  sand  was  moving  in  both  directions 
into  the  head  of  that  funnel,  which  is  due  largely  to  the  wave  action. 
The  sea  is  perpetually  coming  in  there,  and,  under  the  action  of  the 
trade  winds,  striking  the  shore  at  an  angle  of  45  degrees,  mounting 
u])on  the  bea(;h  and  receding,  and  coming  again  and  again,  makes  an 
action  upon  the  beach  which  carries  this  light  sand  in  here  |  illustrating]. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  How  far  do  you  go  from  the  proposed  mouth  of  the 
canal  until  you  reach,  say,  8  fathoms  of  water? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  The  present  mouth?  I  will  have  to  find  that  in 
our  report. 


NICARAGUA    CANAL. 


203 


Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  I  would  just  ask  you  first  if  you  ran  lines  out  and 
made  soundings  in  order  to  ascertain? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Ob,  yes;  we  made  a  beautiful  map  of  the  wliole 
thing.  That  is  to  say,  the  oiiicers  of  the  Montgomery  did  the  hydro- 
graphic  or  offshore  part,  while  we  did  the  shore  part,  and  so  we  have  a 
handsome  map  of  it.     We  say,  on  page  37  of  our  report : 

But  it  seems  safe  to  conclnde  that  the  endeavor  to  construct  a  harbor  entrance  for 
the  canal  immediately  adjacent  to  the  head  of  the  bight,  where  the  maximnm  filling 
action  from  both  directions  must  take  place,  will  involve  engaging  at  once  in  a  per- 
petual contest  with  forces  of  great  power  and  persistence  at  the  point  of  a])j)lication 
of  their  resultant  eflbrts.  On  the  prolongation  of  the  comany's  piers  the  6-futhom 
curve  is  over  1,500  feet  distant  from  the  shore,  the  7-fathom  curve  4,000  feet,  and  the 
8-fatliom  curve  about  8,000  feet. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  About  8,000  feet  seaward? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  On  the  line  of  the  pier. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  That  is  no  longer  than  the  pier  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Columbia  Eiver? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  is  no  extravagant  length,  but  if  you  can  have 
it  less  length 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  But  a  pier  built  out  there  would  have  the  same 
effect  as  it  had  at  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  might — no. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Why  would  it  not  have?  Tliere  is  no  current  out 
there;  there  is  no  flow  of  water  there.  It  is  on  the  broad  Pacific,  and 
the  jetty  is  built  to  resist  the  encroachment  of  the  sand  washed  down 
and  drifted  by  the  sea. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  And  also  incidentally  to  control  and  guide  the 
current  of  the  Columbia  River. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  That  goes  to  sea;  stretches  clear  to  the  northward 
30  miles. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Do  you  remember  before  the  Columbia  jetty  was 
built? 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Yes,  sir;  I  have  been  there  many  a  time  when  there 
was  not  16  feet  of  water  there. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  There  were  three  channels.  Kow  there  is  but  one, 
and  the  purpose  of  that  jetty  was  to  hold  the  river  just  where  it  is. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  The  purpose  of  the  jetty,  as  I  understand  the  engi- 
neers engaged  in  the  work  and  who  were  with  me  when  I  went  out  on 
the  end  of  the  jetty,  was  to  resist  the  encroachment  of  the  sea  washing 
from  the  southward  and  the  force  of  winds  and  currents. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  And-  did  it  very  successfully. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  And  they  have  32  feet  of  water. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  They  have  the  advantage  there  of  a  tremendous 
river  to  work  with,  with  an  enormous  flood  and  of  great  volume.  If 
they  had  not  had  that  they  would  have  had  to  fight  its  tremendous 
force 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  But  the  effect  of  that  pier  would  be  to  arrest  the 
sand  drifts? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes;  arrest  the  sand  drifting  from  the  west  and 
guide  the  river,  so  that  instead  of  spreading  out  and  wandering  about 
it  is  concentrated. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  At  Greytown? 

Colonel  Ludlow.    Ko;  at  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  But  I  am  speaking  about  building  piers  at  Grey- 
town,  and  I  say  they  arrest  the  washing  of  the  sand  when  they  are 
built  out  seaward  far  enough. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Assuredly. 


204  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  And  the  channel  could  be  made  permanent? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes;  it  can  be. 

Mr.  NooNAN.  Would  you  have  any  objection  to  stating  in  writing  to 
supplement  what  you  have  stated  in  regard  to  that  opening? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  How  is  that? 

Mr.  NooNAN.  In  regard  to  this  entrance  to  the  harbor  here? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Well,  in  connection  with  that  I  will  try  to  do  it 
from  the  estimates;  I  have  no  other  means  of  doing  it. 
■  Mr.  NooNAN.  J  do  not  believe  you  can  do  it  in  a  cursory  way,  and 
that  is  why  I  asked  you  to  put  it  supplementary  in  writing. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  would  be  very  difficult.  We  estimate  the  total 
cost  of  the  Greytown  Harbor,  making  a  provisional  estimate  of  $4,4S(),- 
000,  warehouse,  machine  shops,  wharves,  railroad  trestles,  stone — you 
do  not  want  that  estinuite  at  all? 

Mr.  NooNAN.  Oh,  no;  simply  an  estimate  of  the  feasibility  of  mak- 
ing tliat  channel  there  adequate  for  the  purposes  indicated  where  you 
pro])ose  to  put  it. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Very  good ;  that  involves  the  construction  of  a  tem- 
porary pile  pier  in  order  to  secure  an  entrance,  and  then  piers  of  loose 
rock,  wliich  is  in  addition  to  the  rock  in  the  temporary  piers,  piers  at 
entrance  to  canal,  dredging,  stone  intching,  channel  banks,  etc.,  nearly 
$4,000,000  all  told,  including  the  dredging  of  the  harbor.  The  whole 
interior  harbor  dredging  is  included  in  that.  The  items  are  not  sepa- 
rated here  in  the  estimate  for  the  dredging.  The  harbor  work  proper, 
as  we  made  a  preliminary  estimate,  would  be  about  $900,000;  say,  in 
round  numbers  a  million  of  dollars. 

Thereupon  the  committee  adjourned  to  meet  at  2  r).  m.  on  Thursday, 
April  30, 189G. 


Committee  on  Interstate  and  Foreign  Commerce, 

House  of  Representatives, 

May  i,  1S9C>. 
The  committee  met  at  10.30  a.  m.,  Hon.  William  P.  Hepburn  in  the 
chair. 

STATEMENT  OF  COL.  WILLIAM  LUBLOW— Continued. 

The  Chairman.  Colonel  Ludlow  will  proceed  with  his  statement. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Mr.  Doolittle  stated  that  he  would  take  up  the 
question  of  estimates,  etc.,  to  day  and  ask  some  questions  in  that  con- 
nection. Of  course,  this  is  a  difficult  and  complicated  matter.  You 
can  understand  that  it  is  especially  diflRcult  to  form  an  accurate  esti- 
mate upon  a  matter  concerning  which  we  have  not  complete  data.  Mr. 
Noble,  of  our  board,  Avas  very  much  engaged  in  imi^ortant  work  in  New 
York,  l)ut  he  was  good  enough  to  come  over  yesterday  and  Ave  three — 
INIr.  Endicott,  Mr.  Noble,  and  myself — went  over  the  data  and  figures 
that  we  have.  Mr.  Noble,  although  at  very  great  inconvenience, 
arranged  to  remain  over  to-day.  Before  you  proceed  with  the  ques- 
tions tliat  you  desire  to  ask,  inasnuich  as  1  was  responsible  for  the 
introduction  of  Mr.  Davis's  name  in  my  testimony  the  other  day,  and 
some  questions  Avere  asked  which  might  indicate  there  was  something 
against  him,  I  would  be  ghid,  with  tlie  permission  of  the  committee,  to 
read  two  short  communications  touching  this  matter.  I  have  taken  a 
little  trouble  to  ascertain  what  the  facts  wore  in  that  regard.    With 


NICARAGUA   CANAL.  205 

your  iierniission  I  will  therefore  read  these  papers,  and  leave  them  as 
a  part  of  the  record.  The  first  is  from  the  Eiigineerlug  ]News  of  August 
22,1891,  as  follows: 

Mr.  Frank  P.  Davia,  now  the  chief  assistant  of  Enj^iueer  Menocal,  of  the  Nicaragua 
Canal  Construction  Company,  stationed  at  Greytown,  Nicaragua,  has  been  the  recipi- 
ent of  so  unusual  a  mark  of  recognition  for  services  rendered  as  an  engineer  that  we 
give  the  resolution  of  the  com])any  in  full,  and  congratulate  Mr.  Davis  on  Lis  good 
fortune  and  the  officers  of  tlie  Canadian  Pacific  Railway  on  their  frank  admission  of 
indebtedness  to  their  engineer  for  good  work  done  eight  years  ago.  The  resolution 
reads  as  follows : 

"At  a  meeting  of  the  board  of  directors  of  the  Canadian  Pacific  Railway  Company, 
held  at  the  principal  offices  of  the  company  in  Montreal,  on  Monday,  the  8th  day  of 
June,  18!ll,  the  president  referred  to  the  especially  valuable  services  of  Mr.  Frank  P. 
Davis,  who  as  engineer  on  the  Rocky  Mountain  section  of  the  line,  under  Maj.  A.  B. 
Rogers,  prevented  a  most  serious  mistake  in  the  location  of  the  railway  in  the  Lower 
Kicking  Horse  Canyon,  and  saved  the  comjiany  a  large  amount  of  monej'  in  its  origi- 
nal construction,  as  well  as  in  its  subsequent  operation,  and  stated  that  when  the 
facts  came  to  the  knowledge  of  the  executive  officers  they  felt  that  Mr.  Davis's  serv- 
ices should  be  fittingly  recognized,  and  that  Mr.  Davis  had  left  the  country  and  his 
place  of  residence  was  not  known  until  within  a  few  weeks. 

"The  president  reconunended  that  a  check  for  a  suitable  amount  be  sent  to  Mr. 
Davis,  with  a  resolution  expressing  the  appreciation  of  the  board ;  whereupon  it  was 

"Eesolved,  That  the  reconnaendation  of  the  president  be  concurred  in,  and  that  he 
be  authorized  to  forward  to  Mr.  Frank  P.  Davis  a  check  for  $1,000,  together  with  a 
coi>y  of  this  resolution,  as  an  acknowledgment  of  the  valuable  services  rendered  by 
him  to  this  company. 

"Attest: 

"C.  Wainwright,  Secretary." 

The  second  paper  is  from  the  office  of  the  Engineer  Commissioner  of 
the  District,  and  is  signed  by  thecomintting  engineer  and  superintend- 
ent of  sewers  of  the  same  service.  This  came  to  me  with  the  knowledge 
and  approval  of  the  Engineer  Commissioner,  Major  Powell.  It  is  as 
follows : 

Office  of  tue  Engineeu  Commissioner, 

District  of  Columbia, 
Washington,  April  30,  1896. 
Dear  Sir:  In  answer  to  jour  inquiry  concerning  the  record  of  Mr.  Frank  P.  Davis, 
while  connected  with  the  engineer  department  of  the  District  government,  I  make 
the  following  statement : 

He  was  appointed  assistant  engineer  November  1, 1884.  On  December  1, 1887,  he 
was  granted  leave  of  absence,  without  pay,  and  went  to  Nicaragua  on  some  prelimi- 
nary surveys.  August  1, 1888,  he  resumed  his  position  as  assistant  engineer,  and 
retained  it  until  May  31, 1889,  when,  having  been  engaged  on  the  Nicaraguan  Canal 
Construction,  his  connection  with  this  department  was  severed. 

During  the  time  he  was  engaged  here  he  proved  himself  a  capable  and  reliable 
engineer.  His  work  was  under  my  supervision,  and  I  am  therefore  able  to  speak 
with  confidence  as  to  its  character.  It  was  in  all  resjjects  accexitable,  and  I  regard 
him  as  a  thoroughly  conscientious  and  honest  man,  whose  statements  on  any  subject 
with  which  he  is  familiar  I  would  accept  as  truth. 
Very  respectfully, 

Geo.  H.  Bailey, 
Computing  Engineer,  Engineer  Department^,  District  of  Columbia, 

I  indorse  the  above  statement. 

D.  E.  McCoMB, 

Superintendent  Sewers. 
Col.  William  Ludlow, 

Corps  of  Engineers,  U.  S.  A. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Did  you  have  those  paj^ers  with  you  when  you 
appeared  before  the  committee  the  last  time? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  had  not. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Where  did  this  paper  come  from,  and  how  came  you 
in  possession  of  this  paper  from  the  Canadian  Pacific  Kailway  Company 
if  it  was  written  in  1891  ? 


206  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  From  the  same  source  from  whicli  I  obtained  the 
other  ]);iper.  It  is  a  part  of  the  record  in  the  District  othce.  It  came 
to  me  from  Mr.  Bailey  with  a  note  from  Major  Powell,  Engineer  Com- 
missioner. 

IMr.  DooLiTTE.  Mr.  Chairman  and  gentlemen  of  the  committee,  I 
desire  here  to  say  tliat  I  wish  to  i)roceed  and  ask  Colonel  Lu<llow  a  line 
of  <iaestions — the  gentleman  who  has  last  nnide  a  statement  before  the 
conunittee — relative  to  the  estimates  and  quantities  in  tbis  canal  work. 
I  ha\'e  a  line  of  questions  whi(;h  I  think  he  will  have  no  diiliculty  in 
answering",  and  if  Colonel  Ludlow,  when  I  ask  these  questions,  will 
be  kind  enough  to  confine  himself  to  answers  to  the  questions,  it  will 
ex])edite  the  matter  very  much,  and  I  shall  iu  every  instance  make 
them  as  brief  as  possible. 

The  Chairman.  Those  questions  are  in  the  nature  of  a  cross- 
exannnation? 

Mr.  DuOLiTTLE.  Yes,  or  inquiry. 

The  Ciiaikman.  They  will  not  be  pertinent,  I  understand,  until 
Colonel  Ludlow  finishes  his  statement? 

]\Ir.  DooLiTTLE.  Certainly;  I  do  not  desire  to  proceed  until  he  has 
gotten  through  with  his  remarks. 

The  Chairman.  J)o  I  understand  that  you  have  completed  your 
statement,  Colonel  Ludlow  1 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Not  entirely,  perhaps.  There  are  one  or  two  mat- 
ters 1  would  like  to  bring  before  the  committee,  although,  of  course,  I 
am  (juite  at  the  disjjosal  of  the  committee,  and  I  would  be  glad  to 
answer  questions  whenever  members  of  the  committee  desire  to  put 
them.  I  was  advised  last  time  by  Mr.  ]>oolittle  that  estimates  was  the 
matter  about  which  questions  would  be  asked.  There  are  one  or  two 
points  I  would  like  to  cover,  because  the  effect  is  rather  important. 
One  in  particular  is  this  question  of  summit  level.  This  is  a  question 
which  has  given  the  board  great  concern.  We  assumed  all  the  way 
through  that  there  was  a  fixed  summit  level  to  be  maintained,  aiul  Ave 
must  admit  to  have  been  very  much  surprised  by  the  statement  of  IMr. 
Menocal  that  it  was  not  expected  to  maintain  a  fixed  summit  level,  but 
that  such  level  was  expected  to  vary  with  the  rise  and  fall  of  the  lake, 
above  or  below  the  110  feet,  according  to  the  oscillations  of  the  lake. 
That  we  regarded  as  a  very  extraordinary  proposition,  and  we  were 
quite  disconcerted  to  find  that  the  view  we  had  held  on  this  point  was 
in  error.  I  want  to  read,  merely  in  justification  of  our  view,  some  tes- 
timony given  by  Mr.  Menocal,  embodied  in  Senator  Sherman's  report  oi 
December  2, 1892.  It  contains  a  large  amount  of  very  interesting  infor- 
mation.    On  page  174  I  find  the  following  testimony : 

Q.  How  much  is  the  rise  and  fall  of  Lake  Nicaragua,  iu  its  present  natural  coudi- 
tiou,  from  extreme  high  water  to  extreme  low  water  f 

Mr.  Menocal  answers  : 

From  2}  to  5  feet.     We  propose  to  retain  the  level  of  the  lake  at  110  feet. 

That  was  the  summit  level.  The  answer  is  distinctly  made  that  it  is 
pro])osed  to  retain  the  level  of  the  lake  at  110.  That  is,  of  course,  what 
we  have  always  understood.  There  are  some  more  (juestions  as  to 
what  the  variations  might  be: 

Q.  How  much  will  that  swell  it  above  its  lowest  natural  condition? — A.  Six  and 
one-half  feet. 

Q.  t^o  that  that  will  carry  it  up  to  a  height  of  2  or  3  feet  above  its  ordinary  high 
water? — A.  Yes;  but  110  feet  is  not  above  the  highest  water  mark  by  any  means. 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  207 

Then  he  was  asked  whether  the  lake  woukl  rise  enough  to  kill  trees 
or  overflow  shores  that  are  now  never  covered.     His  answer  was — 

No,  sir;  I  would  uot  say  never,  for  sometimes  the  water  reaches  an  elevation  above 
112  lect. 

Of  course,  if  the  summit  level  is  to  be  maintained  at  110  feet  and  the 
lake  shall  not  fall  below  that,  whatever  rise  takes  place  in  the  lake  will 
be  above  that  110-foot  level.  We  made  an  eflbrt  to  ascertain  what 
that  might  be,  but  we  could  not  do  it.  We  tried  to  figure  out  whether 
the  lake  could  be  controlled,  so  as  not  to  have  a  rise  above  3  feet,  but 
we  approximately  calculated  that  that  would  involve  a  discharge  at 
times  very  much  larger  than  at  any  time  has  been  attributed  to  the  San 
Juan  from  the  lake. 

1  wanted  to  read  this,  because  it  is  a  part  of  the  record  and  it  is  infor- 
mation upon  which  we  acted. 

Now,  there  is  another  point,  Mr.  Chairman,  if  you  please. 

Mr.  Menocal,  in  his  Chicago  paper,  prepared  for  the  World's  Colum- 
bian Water  Commerce  Congress,  1893,  addressed  specifically  to  the 
engineer  world,  at  the  bottom  of  page  33,  makes  the  following  state- 
ment with  reference  to  the  construction  of  locks.  He  says,  very 
properly : 

The  matter  of  safety  is  of  first  consideration,  bnt  with  the  exercise  of  proper  care 
and  engineering  skill  the  })lans  pro])Osed  can  be  successfully  carried  out.  In  the 
I)ro))OS('il  plan  for  a  lock  canal  at  Panama,  lifts  of  36  fert,  with  a  possible  maximum 
of  46  feit  at  high  water,  were  adopted  by  the  Commission;  but  we  can  not  recall  any 
ship-canal  lock  in  actual  operation  with  lifts  approaching  these  figures.  Yet,  iu 
working  out  the  problem,  the  mechanical  details,  although  necessarily  of  large  pro- 
portions, have  not  so  far  developed  any  insurmountable  difftculties,  either  in  con- 
struction or  manipulation  afterwards.  The  body  of  the  locks  is  to  be  of  concrete, 
with  cut  stones  iu  the  miter  sills,  the  hollow  quoins  and  such  angles  as  need  protec- 
tion from  shocks. 

That  is  a  specific  and  clear  statement,  and  naturally  we  expected  to 
find  that  verified  in  the  data.  When  we  came  to  investigate  we  were 
disappointed  in  not  finding  it  verified.  We  could  not  find  that  there 
was  any  cut  stone  in  the  lock  construction  at  all — nothing  but  concrete; 
not  any  other  material.  That,  of  course,  is  one  of  the  gravest  objec- 
tions we  have  to  the  company's  plan.  Furthermore,  when  we  asked  for 
the  lock  drawings  at  the  company's  ofiQce  we  found  that  practically  they 
had  none.  The  construction  of  these  locks  is  very  important  and  diffi- 
cult, and  they  have  unexampled  dimensions  in  the  way  of  lift. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  What  is  the  lift,  taking  them  up  in  their  order? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  As  proposed  by  the  company"? 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Yes,  sir;  in  apin'oaching  the  divide  from  Grey- 
town. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  The  lift  is  varied  a  little.  It  was,  if  I  remember, 
30,  31,  and  45  feet.  The  extreme  lift,  as  proposed  in  the  report  of 
1890,  was  45  feet  for  Lock  No.  3.  A  lock  of  half  that  lift  has  yet  to  be 
built. 

^^'hat  I  want  to  submit  is  the  fact  that  the  only  data  which  the  com 
pany  was  prepared  to  furnish  us,  upon  which  their  computations  and 
calculations  for  these  locks  were  based,  is  the  paper  of  which  this  is  a 
copy  [exhibiting  paper].  By  examining  it  you  will  see  they  are  simply 
little  cross  sections,  roughly  made,  and  from  these  the  quantities  of 
concrete  supposed  to  be  contained  in  the  lock  are  computed,  and  the 
iTuit  i)rice  attached  to  it,  and  the  total  figured  out.  There  were  no 
other  plans  or  data  on  the  subject  so  far  as  we  could  ascertain. 

I  might  say  that  there  was  an  unfinished  drawing  in  the  office  of  the 
company,  but  it  was  laid  aside  and  we  were  assured  that  it  was  not 


208 


NICARAGUA    CANAL. 


u&ed  in  the  preparation  of  the  estimates.  The  veritication  of  the  state- 
ment that  tlie  company  had  no  other  data,  or  phms  upon  which  to 
base  their  estimates  is  tlie  fact  that  the  total  estimates  for  locks  1,  2, 
and  3,  in  the  re[)ort  of  1890,  are  precisely  the  same  as  the  figures 
here  given  ou  this  sheet. 

Mr.  BooLiTTLE.  The  total  of  the  locks  is  the  same? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes;  precisely  as  here  stated. 

Now,  Avith  regard  to  the  construction  of  the  Ochoa  I>aui;  this  was 
another  point  the  board  had  the  utmost  difticulty  in  endeavoring  to 
get  to  the  merits  of.  I  assure  you  one  of  the  greatest  diflicultics  we 
had  was  to  ascertain  what  the  real  facts  Avere  and  reconcile  the  differ- 
ent statements  made  at  different  times  with  what  we  found  the  com- 
pany's own  records  showed. 

This  is  a  blue  print  of  the  only  drawing  which  gave  us  any  idea  as 
to  the  condition  of  things  at  the  Ochoa  J)am.  It  is  admitted  that  the 
drawing  is  obsolete,  in  the  sense  that  tlie  proposed  niethud  of  construc- 
tion here  was  abandoned.  The  company,  at  that  time,  was  proposing 
a  trestlework  across  the  river  from  which  the  stone  should  be  dumped. 
Later  tliis  plan  was  advantageously  replaced  by  the  proposition  of 
suspended  cables  across  the  river,  which,  of  course,  was  vastly  better. 
That  proposition  was  never  worked  out,  and  the  only  thing  we  had  to 
look  at  was  the  cross  section  of  the  dam,  and  the  only  thing  we  had  to 
give  us  some  kind  of  an  idea  as  to  how  they  were  to  build  it  was  the 
drawing  of  which  this  is  the  blue  print.  One  of  the  peculiar  features 
of  this  blue  print  is  that  underlying  the  site  of  the  dam,  and  extending 
entirely  across  the  river  and  up  the  banks,  is  shown  a  ledge  of  solid 
rock,  and  the  company's  declaration  in  reference  to  that — the  statement 
of  Mr.  Meuocal  is  on  record — that  underlying  the  site  the  materials  are 
"  gravel,  clay,  and  rock,"  in  the  order  named.  Now,  I  can  only  assure 
you  that  borings  of  the  company  themselves  show  that  this  profile  is 
the  only  authority  for  such  a  statement 

Mr.  DooLiTTLB.  What  is  the  date  of  that  profile? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  This  antedates  the  borings,  made  before  the  bor- 
ings Averemade,  when  there  Avas  no  specific  information  on  the  subject. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Which  profile  you  say  is  now  obsolete? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  The  overhead  cable  Avas  developed,  was  it  not,  after 
the  time  you  have  spoken  of,  Avheu  a  trestle  was  to  be  built  across  the 
river  ? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  don't  remember  about  the  time  of  the  develop- 
ment of  that  overhead  cable. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.     That  is  a  comparatively  recent  system,  isn't  it? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes;  1  think  it  has  been  developed  within  a  few 
years.  I  forget  how  far  back  the  Lidgerwoods  have  Avorked  with  their 
cables. 

Mr.  Noble.  Eight  or  ten  years. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  is  an  excellent  method.  We  are  not  criticising 
that  method  in  the  least.  If  it  is  done,  that  will  be  the  Avay  it  Avill  be 
done.  It  Avas  this  endeaA^or  to  reconcile  discrepant  data  that  really 
gave  us  more  trouble  last  summer,  more  anxiety,  than  almost  any  other 
circumstance  in  connection  with  this  project.  It  invested  everything 
with  the  air  of  uncertainty — too  much  versatility  about  it.  We  Avould 
have  preferred  to  have  some  concrete  statement  AA'hich  would  be  con- 
sistent right  through  Avith  the  comi)auy's  other  data. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Do  you  consider  it  inconsistent  to  have  obsolete  plans 
ou  hand  Avhere  a  Avork  of  this  kind  has  been  carried  on? 


NICARAGUA   CANAL.  .  209 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Kot  the  least  in  the  world.  Still,  I  say  we  have 
never  been  able  to  understand  the  indication  of  that  led«>e  of  rock. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  You  say  that  it  is  obsolete  and  does  not  appear  in 
the  present  plans  for  the  construction  of  the  dam,  does  it? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  The  statement  exists  in  print  yet. 

Mr.  DoOLiTTLE.  I  suppose  the  entire  history  of  the  human  race 
exists. 

The  Chairman.  The  im])ortauce  of  that  is  the  fact  that  it  is  the 
assertion  of  a  rock  foundation. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  is  the  declaration  to  the  eye  of  a  rock  founda- 
tion which  does  not  exist,  and  for  which  at  the  time  it  was  made  there 
was  no  authority  at  all.  Subsequent  to  the  making  of  that  profile 
borings  were  made,  which,  so  far  as  they  were  made,  disproved  it 
entirely.  But  that  didn't  prevent  the  statement  being  made  in  the 
ofhcial  paper  of  1893,  that  clay,  gravel,  and  rock  were  found  there  in  the 
order  named.  That  statement  was  distinctly  made  as  late  as  1893. 
Those  "inadvertencies''  therefore  become  serious. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  From  the  great  mass  of  data  gathered  from  time  to 
time,  and  which  the  company  had  at  their  office  in  New  York,  it  would 
not  be  strange,  would  it,  that  data  that  had  been  demonstrated  to  be 
irregularly  constituted  or  not  absolutely  reliable  should  creep  in  and 
be  ])ublislied  with  the  mass  of  publication  ? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  seems  to  have  been  done. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Don't  you  think  this  would  be  the  natural  and 
probable  thing? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  From  one  point  of  view.  But,  understand,  the 
publications  I  am  noting  are  not  what  might  be  called  popular  and 
commercial  publications,  but  specitic  and  technical  statements  of  the 
chief  engineer  of  the  company. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  For  instance,  I  know  of  my  own  knowledge  that  in 
the  newspapers  statements  are  made  based  on  and  relating  to  old  data 
and  plans,  published  as  carrying  out  the  present  ideas  of  the  company, 
being  totally  at  variance  with  the  company's  plans  at  this  time. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes,  no  doubt.  I  quote  from  page  27  of  Mr.  Men- 
ocal's  formal  paper  prepared  for  the  Columbian  Water  Commerce  Con- 
gress.    This  is  under  the  head  of  excavation,  etc. : 

At  the  site  of  the  Ochoa  Daui  gravel,  clay,  and  rock,  iu  the  order  named,  are 
shown  by  the  borings. 

And  the  date  of  this  paper  is  1893. 

I  assure  you,  gentlemen,  that  this  task  of  mine  is  not  an  agreeable 
one.  But  there  was  no  recourse  but  to  do  what  \vc  had  to  do  and  work 
it  out  to  the  finish.  I  do  not  know  that  there  is  anything  else  at  this 
moment.  There  is  so  much  of  it — all  this  testimony  we  have  here 
bristles  with  points  that  could  be  picked  up,  more  or  less,  and  absurd- 
ities shown.  This  question  of  hydraulic  data,  which  is  one  of  the  most 
serious  points  of  criticism  that  the  Board  has  had  to  find  Avith  the  com- 
pany's project,  is  one  which  I  should  perhaps  refer  to  briefly.  In  the 
company's  records  there  is  an  apparent  absolute  lack  of  hydraulic  data 
of  rainfalls,  of  the  rise  and  fall  of  streams,  of  the  volume  of  streams, 
showing  high-water  marks,  etc. 

These  forces  are  perhaps  more  formidable  here  than  at  any  other  point 
on  the  face  of  the  earth,  without  any  exception,  and  the  information  in 
regard  to  it  is  almost  entirely  lacking,  when  it  could  have  been  had  just- 
as  well  as  not  if  the  importance  of  it — its  absolute  vital  necessity  from 
an  engineering  standpoint — had  been  understood.  i\Ir.  IMciiocal,  in  his 
paper,  which  forms  a  portion  of  his  testimony,  admits  the  deficiency  in 
N  c 14 


210  NICARAGUA   CANAL. 

the  hydraulic  data,  but  seriously  contends  that,  after  all,  the  gatherings 
of  it  would  be  of  no  practical  value,  for  the  reason  that  it  takes  prolonged 
periods  of  years  to  get  maxima  and  minima  results;  that  even  after  twenty 
years  of  investigation  the  phenomena  of  the  twenty-first  year  would  likely 
upset  all  averages;  for  which  reason,  apparently,  it  has  been  concluded 
not  to  get  any  information  at  all — because  at  the  twenty-first  or  thirty- 
first  or  forty-first  year  all  your  labor  would  have  been  done  in  vain,  on 
account  of  some  extraordinary  condition  of  things.  We  contend,  you 
know,  that  this  is  an  absolutely  unsound  view — that  it  is  not  engi- 
neering. 

Fnrtliermore,  Mr.  Menocal  condemns  the  Nicaragua  Canal  board  for 
insisting  upon  the  necessity  for  certain  surveys.  We  have  said  why  we 
wanted  them.  We  want  the  hydraulic  data,  we  want  a  survey  of  the 
San  Juan  Eiver,  and  we  want  a  lot  of  things  which  we  could  not  get 
from  the  company,  and  upon  which  we  could  get  no  information.  We 
wanted  the  regimen  of  the  lake,  and  wanted  to  investigate  the  discharge 
of  the  river,  and  so  on,  a  computation  of  the  rainfalls,  particularly  in 
the  San  Francisco  Basin,  and  in  all  that  proposed  construction  where 
the  work  is  of  great  magnitude  and  where  the  tremendous  rainfall  is 
a  matter  of  serious  consideration.  We  wanted  all  that.  Mr.  Menocal 
declared  at  one  point  in  his  testimony  that  all  this  would  be  a  mere 
Avaste  of  time.  At  other  points  in  his  testimony  it  appears  that  at  the 
time  operations  were  suspended  down  there  the  company  had  seriously 
proposed  an  entire,  clear,  thorough  survey  of  the  San  Juan  lliver  from 
Ochoa  to  the  lake,  which  they  had  kept  in  view,  and  which  they  had 
only  deferred  in  view  of  what  was  more  important;  and  the  termination 
of  their  labors  down  there  found  the  work  undone. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  The  substance  of  Mr.  Menocal's  statement  in  regard 
to  the  rise  and  fall  of  the  lakes  was  this,  was  it  not,  that  during  the 
construction  of  tliis  canal  all  of  these  matters  could  be  ascertained, 
as  well  as  the  details,  in  a  great  work  of  this  character;  that  whatever 
was  necessary  to  be  done  might  then  be  i)eribrmed  in  the  carrying  on 
of  the  work,  and  making  the  surveys  after  the  matter  was  taken  up  in 
earnest  ■? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  You  would  not  even  build  a  stable  that  way ;  you 
would  not  build  a  house  that  way. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Isn't  that  the  substance  of  Mr.  Menocal's  state- 
ment? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes,  sir,  I  think  so;  I  quite  agree  with  you,  and  it 
is  the  most  extraordinary  substance  I  know  of  in  connection  with  engi- 
neering matters — that  the  engineering  work  is  to  be  done  after  the 
construction  has  been  commenced. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  You  stated  the  other  day  that  after  the  work  had 
been  commenced  many  matters  could  be  ascertained  and  details 
arranged,  and  all  that  sort  of  thing. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes,  but  look  at  this,  Mr.  Doolittle.  See  how  abso- 
lutely vital  this  is — for  the  regulation  of  this  summit  level,  and  the  deter- 
mination of  what  that  should  be,  you  must  have  these  hydraulic  data. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Again,  right  there.  The  maintenance  of  this  sum- 
mit level  is  insured  by  the  building  of  the  dam  at  Ochoa, 

Colonel  Ludlow.  The  chief  engineer  says  not. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Isn't  that  true? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  He  says  not. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  I  ask  you. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  No;  I  say  not,  too.    lagree  with  him  on  that  point. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  If  a  dam  were  built  sufficiently  high  at  Ochoa  it 
would  keep  the  lake  up  to  110  feet? 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  211 

Colonel  LrjDLOW.  You  can  do  it. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Now,  tlien,  if  the  flow  of  water  is  so  great  as  to 
increase  that  height  of  the  level  somewhat,  that  excess  of  water  then  is 
carried  off  by  the  weirs,  is  it  not?    Isn't  that  the  plan? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  suppose  so. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  As  rapidly  as  it  descends? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  No,  you  can  not  do  it  as  rapidly,  because  there  must 
be  a  slope  in  the  river  in  order  to  discharge  the  lake. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Certainly,  and  the  rise  in  the  lake  would  make  a  fall. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  The  lake  piles  uj)  and  makes  its  fall.  To  what 
height  is  that  lake  going? 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  yu])pose  it  is  110  and  then  goes  to  117. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Seven  feet  higher? 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Yes,  sir,  or  112  or  113.  Then  it  is  discharged  and 
the  lake  falls  back  to  110. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  On  those  subjects  our  information  is  almost  entirely 
lacking.  The  only  authentic  information  we  have  on  this  subject  is  what 
we  obtained  ourselves. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  I  have  not  been  there  and  I  am  not  an  engineer, 
but  that  would  be  the  result,  it  seems  to  me. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  The  range  of  that  lake  always  seems  to  have  been 
assumed  by  the  company.  It  is  variously  stated  at  3,  5,  and  7  feet; 
and  recently,  since  the  publication  of  our  report,  it  has  been  put  up  to 
10  feet,  for  the  first  time,  in  the  canal  literature.  We  found  evidence, 
and  had  reason  to  believe,  that  the  lake  varies  from  maximum  to  mini- 
mum through  a  range  of  14  feet — certainly  12  feet. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  That  was  taking  into  consideration  the  evaporation 
and  all  that  ? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  No;  watermarks. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  I  say  it  necessarily  embraced  that. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  included  all  the  physics,  certainly.  We  asked 
the  question .  If  we  fix  the  summit  level  at  110  feet,  how  much  is  the 
lake  going  to  rise  above  that?  If  you  can  not  regulate  it  within  limits 
you  are  going  to  submerge  an  enormous  amount  of  valuable  hind.  The 
engineer  has  to  look  into  those  things.  The  city  of  Granada  would  be 
invaded, 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Contingencies  of  that  kind  are  embraced  fully  in 
the  concessions,  are  they  not? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Oh,  no;  there  is  no  concession  permitting  the 
drowning  out  of  private  property  v/ithout  compensation.  If  there 
were,  it  could  not  be  done.  Furthermore,  if  the  committee  will  bear 
with  me  a  moment,  you  do  not  understand  how  we  worked  over  that 
problem.  It  is  absolutely  vital.  The  dam  is  supposed  to  effect  the 
regulation.  We  met  a  statement  from  the  chief  engineer  that  the 
high  lake  level  is  to  be  regulated  by  the  Ochoa  Dam.  You  can  not  do 
that.  It  is  a  fixed  dam;  there  will  l3e  no  gates  on  it.  Furthermore,  we 
have  a  letter  from  the  chief  engineer,  which  we  received  last  summer, 
in  which,  in  answer  to  a  question  on  that  i)oint,  he  replies  that  the  lake 
level  is  to  be  regulated  by  discharging  60  per  cent  of  the  surplus  drain- 
age of  the  lakes  westward  through  the  canal  into  the  Pacific.  At  one 
place  it  is  to  be  regulated  by  the  Ochoa  Dam.  How,  I  don't  know, 
because  there  is  no  provision  there  for  anything  movable,  and  tlie  lake 
and  river  are  oscillating  up  and  down.  You  can  not  regulate  anything 
by  a  fixed  quantity.  Then  comes  the  extraordinary  statement  that  no 
less  than  60  per  cent  of  the  total  waste  or  surplus  drainage  is  to  bo 
carried  off  to  the  westward  through  the  Pacific  caual.    Those  state 


212  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

ments  can  not  be  reconciled^  they  are  incoherent;  it  is  not  engineer- 
ing. 

Mr.  Joy.  If  the  lake  rises  at  its  highest  point  lliO  feet  10  feet  above 
the  summit  level,  would  it  not  submerge  just  as  much  land  as  if  the 
dam  raises  it  110  feet"? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  The  lake  never  goes  there  now.  The  highest  we 
have  noted  was  but  111  or  112  feet. 

Mr.  Joy.  You  say  there  was  a  range  of  14  feet? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Between  the  minimum  and  maximum  stage,  the 
maximum  being  represented  by  112  feet  above  sea  level  at  present  in 
the  natural  conditions  as  we  found  them  there.  Now,  you  put  your 
dam  up  so  it  shall  not  fall  below  110  feet.  You  only  have  a  range  of 
2  feet  to  the  present  maximum  stage,  but  the  water  between  its 
highest  and  lowest  range  has  still  to  be  accounted  for,  and  if  you 
refuse  to  let  the  lake  fall  below  110  feet,  you  have  to  allow  for  the  entire 
maximum  range  above  that  during  rainy  seasons. 

JNIr.  DooLiTLLE.  And  for  the  disposal  of  that  water? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  You  have  to  get  rid  of  it  some  way  or  it  will  drown 
out  the  valle3\ 

That  is  a  series  of  ({uestions  the  company  had  not  investigated.  We 
could  not  get  any  information  on  the  subject  from  the  com])any.  When 
we  went  around  the  lake  and  through  the  river  we  got  watermarks 
ourselves. 

Mr.  BooLiTTLE.  Bo  not  the  weirs  prove  that  those  things  were  taken 
into  consideration? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  ^Ko;  the  weirs  simply  provide  for  a  flow  of  water. 
They  do  not  provide  for  regulating  the  lake  level  at  all.  You  can  not 
do  that  with  fixed  weirs  at  all.  All  you  can  be  sure  of  with  a  weir  is 
to  hold  water  Bip  to  a  certain  point.  We  believe  the  weirs  as  proposed 
by  the  company  will  be  totally  inadequate  during  the  descending  stage 
of  the  lake — the  dry  season.  They  can  not  hold  the  water,  we  believe, 
up  to  110  feet.  The  discharge  over  tho  Ochoa  Dam  is  at  lOG,  105  is  the 
sill  of  the  weir  at  Ochoa,  and  the  San  Carlos  weirs  are  a  foot  and  a  half 
lower  than  that,  so  that  as  the  lake  fell  and  the  supply  drained  o&  it, 
it  is  unquestionable  that  the  slope  would  become  nearly  horizontal  and 
the  river  would  drain  itself  down,  not  to  lOG  or  108,  but  to  103 J,  which 
is  the  reference  of  the  weir  sills  on  the  San  Carlos. 

That  is  oiie  of  the  lowest  points,  and  if  you  don't  keep  water  running 
in  all  the  time  there  it  will  run  down,  naturally.  It  is  those  things  we 
want  light  upon  and  which  are  indispensable  to  any  real  solid  engineer- 
ing project.  -No  engineer  would  permit  you  to  state  that  these  data, 
that  this  information  can  be  omitted,  or  that  it  would  be  safe  to  under- 
take the  construction  of  enormous  works  until  you  have  those  data. 
How  are  you  going  to  tell  about  the  depth  at  which  that  great  cut 
through  the  east  divide  shall  be  projected?  A  dihereuce  of  a  foot  or 
two  with  an  enormous  chasm  in  a  mountain  range  is  a  serious  consid- 
eration, if  you  will  figure  it  out.  A  difference  of  a  foot !  Of  what  number 
of  feet  I  We  Avant  to  know  those  things.  We  want  to  know  the  range 
and  volume  of  San  Juan  Eiver  and  the  bed  of  it,  and  what  material, 
and  of  what  nature  and  kind  and  quantity  it  is,  to  be  removed  from  there 
to  make  a  channel.  We  want  to  know  about  the  means  of  transit  and 
transportation  lines,  which  the  company  has  not  ascertained.  They 
worked  like  beavers  there  and  accomplished  a  great  deal;  but  in  spite 
of  their  hard  work  there  is  an  uncertainty  of  1  foot  of  level  between 
Ochoa  and  Greytown,  which  at  the  conclusion  of  its  Avork  the  company 
had  sought  to  discover  by  a  thorough-going  double  check  line  of  levels 


NICARAGUA   CANAL.  213 

from  Greytown  to  tlie  divide  and  tbeiice  to  Oclioa.  That  showed  what 
they  thought  about  it,  although  we  have  no  reference  to  that,  you  under- 
stand, in  the  printed  information. 

I  do  not  know,  gentlemen,  that  it  is  expedient  to  go  on  further  with 
these  general  points.  We  have  believed  it  in  the  interest  of  American 
engineers,  if  you  choose,  that  this  i)rqiect  should  be  put  in  such  shape 
and  be  treated  in  such  a  rational  sense  that  it  would  be  accepted  by  the 
engineering  world  outside  of  us.  You  can  not  do  these  things  under  a 
bushel.  This  is  a  project  that  excites  the  interest  of  the  whole  engineer- 
ing world.  It  is  the  most  interesting  engineering  work  ever  started, 
and  the  difficulties  of  the  work  are  not  exceeded  by  any  other  such 
work. 

Mr.  Bennett.  Still,  there  are  no  difiQculties  so  serious  in  this  work 
that  they  can  not  be  overcome? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  You  will  never  get  an  engineer  to  admit  that  there 
are  difficulties  which  can  not  be  overcome;  that  any  engineering  pro- 
ject not  inconsistent  with  the  laws  of  nature  is  impossible  if  you  have 
money  and  time  enough  to  accomplish  it. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  The  difficulties  here  are  not  insurmountable,  accord- 
ing to  your  own  judgment  as  a  man"? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  JSTo,  sir.  The  board  has  expressed  the  opinion 
that  it  is  convinced  of  the  fact  that  the  construction  of  a  canal  across 
the  isthmus  is  feasible.  We  have  said  so,  and  we  believe  it;  but  not, 
if  you  please,  with  this  kind  of  engineering,  because  you  can  start  to 
build  a  canal  there,  if  you  choose,  gentlemen,  and  you  can  spend,  as  I 
said,  a  thousand  million  dollars,  and  not  get  through.  The  French 
engineers  tried  that.  They  spent  $500,000,000 — that  amount,  at  least, 
has  disappeared — and  they  have  nearly  wrecked  the  French  nation  on 
account  of  it. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  You  can  do  that  with  nearly  any  undertaking. 

Mr.  Bennett.  How  much  it  cost  is  absolutely  unsettled. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  believe,  after  the  most  faithful  consideration 
we  can  give  this  subject,  the  cost  ci"  work  and  labor,  and  what  it  will 
be  necessary  to  do,  etc.,  the  cost  of  construction,  actual  construction, 
nothing  else,  will  be  under  $135,000,000.  I  expressed  the  opinion  the 
other  day,  in  response  to  an  inquiry,  that  I  regretted  we  had  not  made 
the  estimate  $150,000,000,  because  I  thought  that  sum  would  be  safer. 
It  is  a  matter  of  judgment.  We  are  perfectly  convinced  that  the  canal 
can  be  built. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Within  the  limits  you  name  in  your  report? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes,  sir;  we  believe  it  can  be  done,  and  so  state. 
But  we  do  not  believe  at  the  present  time  there  is  sufficient  information 
to  warrant  the  formulation  of  the  engineering  j^roject,  Avith  the  details 
of  construction,  giving  it  out  to  the  world  and  advertising  for  construc- 
tion, which  is  the  only  way  it  can  be  built.  It  is  to  be  advertised  to 
the  world  and  to  be  bid  for  by  the  contractors  of  the  world.  It  will 
have  to  be  divided  up  into  sections  for  construction  and  the  contractors 
must  have  a  chance  to  bid  so  and  so  on  each  section.  How  are  you 
going  to  do  all  that  on  the  information  that  is  available  at  the  present 
time?  An  engineer  or  a  contractor  will  tell  you  it  can't  be  done;  they 
will  not  go  ahead  on  it.  You  couldn't  maKe  a  contract  with  them  to 
build  the  canal  on  the  information  Ave  have. 

•  Mr.  Bartlett.  The  substance  of  yonr  view  as  to  construction  is  that 
it  can  not  actually  be  commenced  until  a  resurvey  is  made? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  can  be. 

Mr.  Bautlett.  With  safety^ 


214  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  From  the  engineering?  standpoint,  I  think  it  is 
extremely  dangerous  to  do.  It  is  what  has  gotten  people  into  trouble 
whenever  they  have  undertaken  it.  You  vsee,  the  engineer  is  stubborn 
about  that;  he  wants  to  know  what  he  has  to  do  before  he  undertakes 
to  do  it.  He  doesn't  want  to  postpone  accumulating  his  data,  which 
will  settle  costly  things,  until  he  gets  it  nearly  done.  I  assure  you 
there  is  not  an  engineer  in  the  world  who  would  not  tell  you  the  same 
thing,  if  you  sent  for  the  whole  of  them. 

I  have  a  lot  of  data  here,  in  accordance  with  your  request,  that  we 
spent  yesterday  in  going  over  carefully.  We  have  collected  a  lot  of 
stuff  which  was  really  the  guide  for  us  in  making  the  prices  in  our 
report. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  You  may  state  again,  Colonel  Ludlow,  who  is  the 
chainnan  of  the  Board  of  Commissioners  who  visited  Nicaragua. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  My  colleagues  on  the  board  were  good  enough  to 
elect  me  to  that  position. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  And  who  was  the  secretary? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  had  some  trouble  in  getting  a  man.  We  first 
got  a  man  from  the  War  Department,  and  he  was  scared  off;  and  then 
I  had  another  one  engaged,  and  he  went  off. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Whom  did  you  finally  get? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  A  man  named  Stoddart. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Was  he  present  with  you  in  IsTew  York  at  the  time 
this  report  was  made  up  and  the  items  considered? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes;  he  was  there  right  along.  He  was  the  type- 
writer and  stenographer  for  the  Commission.  We  called  him  the 
secretary  because  it  sounded  a  little  more  dignified. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Now,  when  all  of  the  items  embraced  in  this  work 
were  being  considered  by  the  board,  did  the  board  regularly  vote  upon 
the  questions  arising  as  to  quantities,  etc.  ? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  No,  sir;  we  never  voted  on  anything.  We  were 
together  all  day  long,  and  conferred  all  the  time.  We  didn't  have  any 
formal  voting. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  In  conceiving  the  spirit  of  your  report,  how  was  it 
that  you  decided  to  enter  into  a  critical  discussion  of  the  project  of  the 
company's  chief  engineer  instead  of  confining  yourselves  to  a  simple, 
straightforward  report,  making,  as  competent  engineers,  your  own 
project  from  the  data  furnished  or  obtainable? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  There  are  two  answers  to  that.  One  is  that  the 
reports  of  the  chief  engineer  constituted  the  basis  of  the  company's 
project — I  do  not  know  of  any  other.  The  second  answer  is  that  the 
law  enacted  by  Congress  under  which  the  board  was  operating  spe- 
cifically directed  our  attention  to  the  com^jany's  project,  and  did  not 
authorize  us  to  propose  a  project  of  our  own.  That  appears  on  the 
inside  of  the  cover  of  our  report.  We  quote  the  law  there,  and  with 
your  permission  I  will  answer  your  question  that  way,  by  direct 
reference  to  the  law — an  extract  from  the  act  aj^proved  March  2,  1895. 
I  may  say  here  that  we  were  pleased  to  find  that  we  were  not  expected 
to  forniulate  a  project  of  our  own,  but  that  under  the  provisions  of  that 
act  we  were  directed  to  look  into  the  feasibility  of  constructing  the 
canal  by  the  route  already  contemplated,  or,  to  quote  the  language  of 
the  law — 

For  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  the  feasibility,  permanence,  and  cost  of  the  con- 
struction and  completion  of  the  Nicaragua  Canal  by  the  route  contemplated  and 
provided  for  by  an  act  whicli  passed  the  Senate  January  twenty-eighth,  eighteen 
hundred  and  ninety-live,  entitled  "An  act  to  amend  the  act  entitled  'An  act  to  incor- 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  215 

porate  the  Maritime  Canal  Company  of  Nicaragua/  approved.  February  twentieth, 
eighteen  hundred  and  eighty-nine,"  twenty  tliousaud  dolhirs. 

That's  wliat  we  went  to  investigate.  How  are  you  going'  to  separate 
the  chief  engineer's  statement  from  the  project  of  the  company.  It  is 
his  project.  He  is  the  autlior  of  the  project;  who  else?  Engineers  make 
engineering  projects.  The  chief  engineer  of  the  canal  company — or 
whatever  tlie  association  is  called — naturally  made  the  project.  It  is  a 
j)art  of  the  oflicial  record  of  the  company.  IMr.  Menocal's  ollicial  report 
of  1S90  stands  on  record  as  the  last  publication  from  the  company  as 
explaining  the  project,  and  we  had  that  in  our  hands.  We  had  that  to 
steer  by. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Now,  this  report  was  made  up  from  the  data  fur- 
nished by  the  company? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Our  report? 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Yes,  sir;  in  the  main,  was  it  not  I 

Colonel  LuDLOAV.  But  in  our  report  you  will  find  many  statements 
and  assertions  based  oh  information  we  gathered  ourselves. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Your  report,  however,  was  most  largely  made  from 
the  company's  data? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  The  details,  yes,  sir;  but  the  important  vital  data 
we  endeavored  to  ascertain  for  ourselves. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Why  did  you  not  yourselves  get  the  data  you  com- 
plain the  company  did  not  furnish'? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Instead  of  six  months  and  $20,000,  it  probably 
would  have  taken  three  years  and  $600,000  to  have  done  that. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Do  you  think  it  would  take  three  years  to  obtain 
the  data  that  the  company's  statements  are  deficient  in"? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  estimated  that  it  would  take  two  and  a  half 
years,  and  we  made  a  very  narrow  estimate — I  should  say  we  estimated 
it  would  take  a  year  and  a  half,  and  I  am  sorry  we  did  not  make  it  two 
years. 

Mr.  Dooltttle.  Now,  I  wish  you  would  state  to  the  committee  what 
examination  you  made  when  traveling  up  and  down  the  San  Juan 
Itiver  to  ascertain  the  character  of  the  material  in  the  bottom  of  the 
stream. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  had  no  opportunity  to  make  any. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Isn't  it  true,  according  to  modern  methods  of  ascer- 
taining the  character  of  the  bed  of  a  river,  that  had  you  used  the 
water  jet  rod  the  character  of  the  bed  of  the  San  Juan  Eiver  could 
have  been  ascertained  so  far  as  earth  material  was  concerned? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  No;  excuse  me,  but  there  are  two  things  that  you 
embrace.  You  speak  of  a  rod  and  a  jet.  One  means  a  jet  of  water 
through  a  pipe.  That  is  the  forcing  jiower  of  the  jet  which  you  depend 
on  to  sink  a  pipe  down.     In  the  other  case,  you  liave  a  solid  rod. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE,  I  understand,  but  isn't  it  termed  by  engineers  and 
contractors  water-jet  rodding"? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  have  never  heard  it. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  I  have  a  good  many  times,  and  I  am  not  very 
familiar  with  engineering  work. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Those  terms  vary  in  different  parts  of  the  country. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  How  much  exi)ense  would  have  been  involved  in 
making  that  kind  of  a  test  from  the  steamer  that  conveyed  you  up  and 
down  the  river — that  is,  so  as  to  satisfy  yourselves  in  a  general  way? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  could  not  do  anything  of  the  kind.  There  were 
30  miles  of  it.  We  would  have  had  to  spend  the  whole  time  trying  to 
find  out  that  bottom,  and  you  can  not  get  a  water  jet  into  a  rock  or 
hard  clay. 


216  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

Mr.  DooLTTTLE.  But  you  cau  through  earth  material? 

Colouel  LvDLOw.  What  is  earth? 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Earth  material — clay. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  The  jet  would  find  great  difficulty  in  penetrating 
some  clay. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Is  it  not  true  that  in  building  the  Port  Orchard  dry 
dock  they  were  enabled  to  penetrate  the  very  hardest  kind  of  cement 
hardpan  by  this  means? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Oh,  yes,  it  is  quite  i^ossible,  because  hydraulic 
raining  will  tear  almost  anything.  1  have  seen  great  chimneys  torn 
down  by  this  power. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  This  is  not  hydraulic  mining,  but  a  water  jet. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  had  no  appliances  of  that  kind  at  all.  It  was 
out  of  the  question  for  us  to  make  such  an  exammation.  Our  time 
was  too  valuable  to  do  that. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  What  would  have  been  the  expense  of  sending  a 
man  to  have  made  an  examination  of  that  kind? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  What,  :J0  miles? 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Yes,  at  frequent  intervals  through  these  30  miles, 
making  examinations. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  The  material  varies  everywhere,  according  to  the 
company's  information,  from  sand  to  rock.  You  can  go  down  with  a 
water  jet  in  sand.  We  could  work  through  the  clay,  j)erhaps.  We 
would  not  get  far  into  the  gravel.  The  jet  distributes  itself  against 
the  gravel,  and  you  can  not  easily  penetrate.  AYith  the  rock,  of  course, 
we  would  be  perfectly  helpless.  If  we  struck  a  bowlder,  we  would  not 
know  what  it  was.  For  such  work  steam  drills,  diamond  drills,  are 
necessary. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE,  You  are  familiar  with  that  method.  Could  you 
state  to  the  committee  the  expense  of  an  investigation  of  that  kind,  to 
be  made  by  a  competent  man? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  would  have  taken  all  our  time  down  there. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  But  you  had  other  men  with  j^ou? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Y^es;  and  we  kept  them  busy. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Y^ou  did  not  detail  anyone  for  that? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  No;  no  more  than  we  detailed  men  for  boring 
through  the  east  divide. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Didn't  it  occur  to  you  that  so  far  as  the  clay  and 
sand  in  the  bottom  of  the  river  was  concerned,  it  should  be  investi- 
gated ? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  W^e  were  decidedly  of  that  opinion.  , 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE,  Still  you  did  not  make  such  investigation? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Not  in  the  least.  We  thought  that  borings  should 
be  made  in  the  east  divide  also,  but  we  did  not  do  so. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Will  you  state  that  an  investigation  could  not  have 
been  made  for  $500  or  $(;0()  that  would  have  enabled  competent  local 
parties  to  have  water-jet  rodded  the  whole  bed  with  thousands  of  holes 
from  that  steamer? 

Colouel  Ludlow.  It  was  not  possible. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  That  is,  so  far  as  the  earth  bottom  of  the  river  is 
concerned  ? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Oh,  that  could  not  be  done. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  And  within  the  period  you  were  down  there? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  You  think  that  for  $400  or  $500  you  could  get  an 
engineer  to  make  an  investigation  and  ascertain  the  material  which  con- 
stituted the  bed  of  that  river.    You  could  not  do  anything  of  the  kind. 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  217 

It  would  take  many  months  instead  of  days  or  weeks,  and  thousands 
instead  of  hundreds  of  dollars. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  My  suggestion  is  simply  this:  That  by  the  use  of  a 
water  jet,  rod,  or  tube,  used  from  the  steamer  that  you  were  traveling 
on,  you  could  have  made  an  investigation.  It  is  true,  isn't  it,  that  in 
sand  a  water-jet  pipe  will  descend  as  rapidly  as  you  can  drop  it  down? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Sometimes  taster. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  And  isn't  it  true  that  that  kind  of  an  investigation, 
for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  in  a  general  way  the  bed  of  this  stream 
for  the  purpose  of  your  report,  could  have  been  made  at  an  expense  of 
$500  or  8G00! 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  don't  think  it  could.  It  would  simply  be  a  waste 
of  $500  or  .$(300.  Furthermore,  the  company  had  in  its  own  possession 
a  profile  which  purported  to  show  the  nature  of  that  river  bottom.  We 
didn't  find  out  that  that  protile  was  utterly  fallacious  until  afterwards. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  When  did  you  find  it  Avas  utterly  fallacious? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  When  we  came  to  examine  the  com])any's  records 
in  New  York.  We  found  then  that  that  profile  was  directly  taken  from 
the  Lull  information;  and  when  we  came  to  find  out  what  information 
the  Lull  expedition  obtained  in  reference  to  the  river  we  found  that  they 
had  simply  made  a  boat  survey  of  the  river,  taking  the  indications  of 
the  lead.  We  had  no  reason  to  distrust  the  authenticity  of  the  informa- 
tion given  us  by  the  company  until  we  found  that  there  was  no  founda- 
tion for  it,  or  next  to  none.  The  information  was  based  merely  on 
surface  indications,  the  leadsman  calling  out  what  the  indications  were 
ns  the  boat  went  along.  But  there  is  a  carefully  constructed  i^rofile, 
which  is  a  ])art  of  the  company's  records,  and  which  was  given  to  us  as 
a  basis  of  their  estimates. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Will  you  not  state  what  you  did,  if  anything,  while 
down  there  in  the  way  of  ascertaining  what  the  bed  of  that  river  actually 
contaiimin  the  way  of  material? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  made  no  further  attempt  to  ascertain  the  char- 
acter of  the  bottom  of  the  river  than  the  noting  of  what  we  could  see. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  What  did  you  see  that  led  you  to  believe  that  there 
was  rock  there? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  saw  lots  of  rock  there. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  What  was  the  character  of  the  rock;  bowlders  or 
ledges? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Ledges  and  bowlders,  both. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Where  did  you  observe  along  the  line  of  the  river 
this  rock  you  speak  of,  and  to  what  extent? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  At  all  the  rapids. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Won't  you  specify  at  what  points? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  At  Machuca;  above  that  the  Balas  Rapids;  the 
Castillio  Rapids ;  at  the  Toro  E.ai)ids  above  that.  At  all  of  these  points 
there  was  a  large  rock  exposure.  The  river  was  low  when  we  were 
there. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  What  extent  would  you  say  this  rock  covered  be- 
tween Ochoa  and  the  lake,  from  your  observations? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  What  we  could  see? 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Yes,  sir;  what  you  were  able  to  note. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  was  a  matter  that  could  be  measured  by  a  few 
miles — what  we  could  see.  At  the  Machuca  Rapids,  I  think,  about  2 
miles  or  2;^  miles;  at  the  Castillio  Rapids  onl}^  about  a  quarter  of  a 
mile;  at  the  Balas  Rapids  the  rock  covered  perhaps  2  or  3  miles;  at 
the  Tore  Rapids  it  would  cover  perhaps  2  or  3  miles. 


218  NICARAGUA   CANAL. 

Mr.  BooLlTTLE.  Altogether,  not  to  exceed  8  miles'? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  That  much  in  >sight. 

Mr.  DoOLiTTLB.  And  not  to  exceed  that  much  rock  in  sight? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  That  is  i)erhaps  all  we  saw. 

IMr.  DooLiTTLE.  Then  you  don't  know  that  there  is  any  other  rock 
there  than  that  you  have  mentioned'? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  No.  Our  information  was  derived  from  the  pro- 
files submitted  by  the  company.  It  was  given  us  as  official  and  was 
our  information. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  The  other  day  when  you  were  making  a  statement 
about  the  terminus  of  the  canal  on  the  Atlantic  side,  you  said  you 
thought  it  wise  to  change  the  mouth  of  the  canal.  In  other  words, 
when  you  recommend  a  ditferent  Greytown  entrance,  do  you  not  know 
that  the  point  you  designate  is  forbidden  by  the  concessions — forbid- 
den by  the  charter  of  the  company? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  No;  we  didn't  pay  much  attention  to  that  point — 
what  was  provided  for  by  the  concessions  or  the  charter.  We  were 
doing  engineering. 

Mr.  ]>ooLiTTLE.  Didn't  you  know  that  you  crossed  the  boundary 
line? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes;  we  knew  it  crossed  the  alleged  boundary 
between  Costa  Kica  and  Nicaragua. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Uad  you  looked  at  the  concessions  to  see  whether 
it  could  be  changed  within  the  limits  of  those  concessions! 

Colonel  Ludlow.  No,  sir;  we  did  not  concern  ourselves  with  those 
things. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Now,  if  that  could  not  be  changed  under  those  con- 
cessions, would  you  still  adhere  to  your  plans'? 

Coh)nel  Ludlow.  I  do  not  believe  in  paralyzing  a  project  of  this 
kind  by  a  mere  question  of  a  mile  or  two  of  sand  beach. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  But  you  did  state  that  the  Greytown  Harbor  could 
be  constructed;  that  it  was  feasible? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  think  so. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  In  accordance  with  the  plans  of  the  company 

Colonel  Ludlow.  The  plans  of  the  company?  Not  in  the  least.  We 
believe  that  to  be  impracticable. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  You  believe  it  to  be  impossible? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Oh,  what  is  impossible?  I  would  say  impractica- 
ble— out  of  the  question,  if  you  choose,  both  as  a  question  of  engineer- 
ing and  cost. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE,  You  believe  a  channel  sufficiently  deep  could  be 
constructed  there  by  carrying  those  jetties  sufficiently  far  seaward? 
If  those  jetties  were  built  out  far  enough  it  could  be  maintained,  you 
thiidv,  do  you  not? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  would  be  a  fearful  cost,  and  jiresently  it  would 
be  threatened  with  destruction. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Please  state  what  fearful  cost? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  As  fully  set  forth  in  our  report.  And  I  assure 
you,  gentlemen,  we  gave  most  careful  consideration  to  that  whole  sub- 
ject. We  surveyed  it  and  examined  it  and  walked  the  beach  and  went 
up  to  investigate  the  Indio  and  Harbor  Head,  and  had  a  whole  survey 
of  it  made.  We  do  not  believe  the  Greytown  Harbor  entrance  can  be 
built  where  the  company  proposes  it;  that  is  to  say,  we  regard  it  as 
impracticable,  tor  the  reason  it  is  the  head  of  a  bight,  and  we  believe 
that  the  sand  movement  there — it  being  in  both  directions — is  such 
that  if  you  undertake  to  make  your  entrance  there  you  will  have  to 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  219 

figlit  the  sands  coming  from  the  east  and  from  the  north,  and  fight  them 
forever. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  What  did  you  observe  there,  Colonel  Ludlow,  that 
led  you  to  this  conclusion'? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  That  the  sands  were  coming  from  both  ways. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  How  did  you  know? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  saw  them.  There  is  no  question  whatever 
abont  that. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Siinds  washing  down  the  coast? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Wasliing  westward  from  the  Harbor  Point — from 
that  broken  piece  oft'  there  [indicating  on  niap|,  which  is  called  Harbor 
Head.  It  looks  like  a  little  harbor  or  reentrant  to  the  land  at  the  right 
of  that  red  thing  [indicating  on  map],  which  represents  the  canal  har- 
bor. To  the  right  of  that  there  is  an  opening,  which  from  time  to  time 
is  the  harbor  and  the  entrance  to  Greytown,  and  the  only  one.  That 
was  the  case  when  the  company  went  there.  Now,  the  sands  unques- 
tionably are  coming  in  from  that  point  of  land. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Is  that  point  of  land  threatened  by  this  wash? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes,  sir.  It  is  being  cut  oft"  at  the  end.  We  dis- 
covered that;  it  had  never  been  noted  before.  We  made  a  careful 
comparison  of  a  series  of  maps  showing  that  point,  and  we  proved  that 
that  eastern  end  was  wasting. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  And  that  bight  was  being  filled  up? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Filled  up  in  that  direction.  It  can  not  be  other- 
wise, because,  if  you  i^lease,  if  you  lay  oft'  a  line  there  bearing  between 
east  and  northeast  you  will  get  the  direction  of  the  prevailing  wind, 
with  an  average  direction  of  about  east-northeast.  That  is  the  average 
direction  of  the  trade  winds.  You  will  see,  the  east-northeast  trade 
strikes  the  beach  at  an  angle  of  about  45°.  Those  waves  come  in  at 
that  angle.  They  gather  up  material  and  take  it  along.  The  next 
wave  takes  it  farther.  You  can  see  it;  you  can  throw  a  chip  over  and 
see  it. 

I  know  of  a  war  ship  that  was  anchored  off  that  entrance,  within  a 
mile,  and  the  sands  there  are  so  easily  moved  that  the  ship's  anchors 
would  not  hold.  They  originally  anchored  oft'  about  4  miles.  They 
thought  it  would  be  more  convenient  to  come  in  nearer,  and  so  they 
came  within  about  a  mile  of  the  beach.  Their  anchors  held  offshore, 
but  after  they  came  in  this  distance  their  anchors  did  not  hold,  but 
dragged,  and  they  had  to  go  out  again.  That,  if  you  please,  Mr. 
Doolittle,  is  half  of  it. 

Now,  I  will  explain  what  the  board  believe  to  be  the  fact  in  regard  to 
the  other  portion.  Tliere  is  that  river  Indio.  In  ai)proaching  the  beach 
it  turns  parallel  with  the  shore,  toward  Greytown.  If  I  had  a  pointer 
I  could  indicate  on  the  map  what  I  mean.  I  mean  the  Indio  comes 
down  near  the  beach,  and  instead  of  directly  entering  the  Caribbean  Sea 
follows  parallel  on  the  inside.  We  investigated  the  action  of  that  river 
there,  and  from  the  best  information  we  could  get  its  normal  discharge 
was  out  into  the  Caribbean  Sea,  as  would  naturally  be  the  case,  but  it 
has  constantly  worked  to  the  south  [indicating  on  the  map],  meeting 
the  sea  farther  and  farther  to  the  south,  and  that  sand  spit  follows 
along  after  tlie  entrance  until  it  gets  near  to  Greytown. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  What  distance? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  think  it  has  been  within  2  or  3  miles,  and  this 
np]>er  distance  here  is  a  matter  of  10  miles  where  it  might  go  out;  and 
from  time  to  time,  with  a  strong  freshet  from  the  Iiulio,  the  stream  will 
cut  right  through  that  narrow  stretch  to  the  sea.     Suppose  that  river 


220  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

takes  n  notion  to  (j^o  straight  out  tliere,  it  lias  left  tlseyi  all  that  body 
of  sand  spit  between  its  present  mouth  and  Greytown.  It  has  sort  of 
transferred  that  sand  spit  bodily  to  the  right  bank,  when  it  was  for- 
jnerly  on  the  left.  It  goes  on  and  does  that  thing  again.  It  repeats 
itself,  and,  as  we  believe,  although  no  observations  have  been  made, 
that  action  is  continually  going  on,  with  the  result  that  there  is  a  bodily 
movement  of  that  beach  sand  down  toward  the  end  of  this  funnel, 
meeting  the  incoming  sand  from  the  other  side.  We  do  not  believe  it 
to  be  safe  to  undertake  to  build  an  entrance  to  that  harbor  there. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  What  is  the  size  of  that  river? 

Colonel  LiTDLOW.  A  great  big  river. 

My.  Doolittle.  It  does  not  compare  with  the  San  Juan? 

Colonel  LuuLOW.  We  did  not  go  up  the  Indio  very  much.  I  should 
Siiy  where  we  saw  it,  near  the  entrance,  I  jDresume  it  was  200  to  400  feet 
Avide  .and  above  that  wider. 

]\lr.  Doolittle.  Is  that  affected  by  the  tide? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  There  is  no  tide  in  the  Caribbean  Sea  to  speak  of. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  Is  there  a  tide  at  Greytown?  What  is  the  tide 
there? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  From  9  to  13  or  14  inches. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  Is  that  a  silt-carrying  stream? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  All  those  streams  have  been,  I  think,  in  times  past, 
because  this  delta  is  built  uy>  of  that. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  Did  you  examine  that  stream? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Walked  up  the  beach  ourselves;  yes,  sir. 

]Mr.  Doolittle.  Now,  what  would  that  have  had  to  do  with  the 
depth  of  water  to  be  obtained  between  those  jetties,  provided  those 
jetties  were  constructed  of  proi^er  material  and  carried  out  to  a  sufficient 
depth  to  deep  water — permanent  deep  water? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  How  far  would  it  go? 

Mr.  Doolittle.  How  far  would  you  go? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  That  is  the  point. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  How  far  do  you  go  out  there  to  get  7  fathoms  of 
water? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  About  0,000  or  8,000  feet. 

]\Ir.  Doolittle.  That  is  not  a  very  long  jetty,  is  it? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  The  7-fatlioms  contour  is  about  4,000  feet  from 
the  shore,  and  the  8-fathoms  contour  about  8,000  feet  from  the  shore, 
on  the  line  of  the  company's  jetty.  They  built  a  thousand  feet  of  it, 
or  less,  and  the  shore  line  has  followed  out  as  they  built  the  pier. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  That  is  not  a  jetty  of  unusual  length  at  all — 8,000 
feet— is  it? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  No,  there  are  jetties  much  longer  than  that. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  Yes,  even  at  the  mouth  of  tlie  Columbia  River; 
twice  that  length. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Perhaps  two  or  three  times  as  long. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  The  one  contemplated  at  Greys  Harbor,  the  coast 
of  Washington,  for  instance. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes,  sir;  the  breakwater  at  Chicago  is  0,000  feet. 

Mr.  Do(^little.  Then  the  building  of  jetties  of  that  length  would 
be,  of  course,  nothing  unusual? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  No,  not  if  it  were  necessary.  But  suppose  you 
had  reason  to  api)rehend  that  after  you  had  built  your  jetties,  in  the 
course  of  a  period  of  time  not  extremely  protracted,  your  work  would 
l)e  wasted? 

Mr.  Doolittle.  How  far  beyond  the  point  of  land  that  is  being  cut 
down  would  they  reach  if  carried  to  8,000  feet? 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  221 

Colonel  LiTDi.ow.  You  see  how  that  jetty  heads  [pointing  to  map]? 

Mr.  J)()()LiTTLE.  Yes,  sir. 

Colonel  Ia'Dlow.  Up  the  beach. 

Mr.  1  )ooLiTTLE.  I  do  not  regard  it  as  up  the  beach. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  heads  north,  a  little  west  of  north. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE,  How  far  would  8,000  feet  carry  it? 

Mr.  Noble.  Very  nearly  north. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  The  head  of  laud  you  spoke  of.  Would  not  8,000 
feet,  or  if  carried  out  to  7  fathoms,  would  it  not  be  away  out  seawanl, 
beyoiul  the  point  of  land  you  have  been  speaking  of  as  being  cut  away? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  would  be  farther  from  shore,  but  not  in  deep 
water. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Would  it  not  be  in  deeper  water? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  No;  because  you  can  get  at  a  point  farther  east  8 
fathoms  in  a  very  short  distance. 

iMr.  DooLiTTLE.  How  far  would  you  go  before  you  would  get  8 
fathoms  of  water? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Two  thousand  feet  from  shore. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  How  far  does  that  point  of  land  extend  northward 
beyond  the  mouth  of  the  canal,  emptying  into  the  sea? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  How  far  does  that  extend  northward?  It  does  not 
extend  northward. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  In  what  direction  does  it  extend? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  The  iwiut  of  land  you  speak  of  is  about  east  of  the 
canal. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  I  understand,  but  I  say  how  much  farther  north 
does  it  extend  than  the  mouth  of  the  canal  as  shown  on  the  map? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  don't  think  it  is  any  north  of  it. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Then  does  it  extend  farther  seaward  to  the  north 
compared  with  the  mouth  of  the  canal? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Farther  seaward — farther  eastward. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  And  farther  north? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  think  not. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  See,  the  arrow  points  north,  doesn't  it  [pointing  to 
map]  ? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes;  it  is  supposed  to.  That  is  a  ver}^  crude  map. 
I  brought  down  with  me  the  only  little  map  I  could  find  of  this  thing. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  In  accordance  with  this  arrow,  this  point  of  land 
here 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Seems  to  lie  a  little  northerly,  I  see.    It  seems  to. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  I  say,  how  much  farther  north  does  it  lie  than  that 
harbor  [referring  to  map  ou  the  wall]  ? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  don't  know.  You  can  not  estimate  anything  oft 
that. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  You  ran  surveys? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Surely;  but  if  you  will  give  me  a  map  I  will  show 
you  in  a  minute.  We  turned  in  six  or  eiglit  maps  of  Greytown  Harbor. 
I  may  be  permitted  to  state,  while  I  am  about  it,  that  there  have  been 
very  cai)able  engineers  who  have  declared  the  construction  of  a  harbor 
at  that  point  impossible. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  I  wish  you  would  name  those  engineers. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  do  not  know,  at  this  moment,  who  they  are.  I 
merely  state  that  fact.  We  do  not  quote  them,  because  we  do  not 
agree  with  them. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  You  believe  a  harbor  can  be  built  there? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes,  and  say  so,  and  estimate  for  the  construction. 


222  NICARAGUA   CANAL. 

Tbis  little  map  I  have  here  is  the  best  I  happen  to  have  with  me,  bat 
it  does  not  show  very  much;  it  is  on  too  large  a  scale.  I  might  say 
that  i)()int  seems  to  be  a  little  north,  if  you  please. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  I  would  like  to  ask  you  whether,  in  your  judgment,  it 
■would  be  a  better  plan  to  extend  those  jetties  in  a  right  line  and  to  the 
north  than  to  construct  them  as  they  are  constructed  in  accordance  with 
the  plans  of  the  companj^? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  think,  as  far  as  that  jetty  is  concerned,  it  is 
sufiiciently  well  placed,  and  about  the  proper  direction,  supposing  you 
are  going  to  make  your  entrance  at  that  point.    We  do  not  criticise  that. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  How  far  out  beyond  the  8,000  feet  would  it  be  neces- 
sary, or  have  you  any  data  to  base  your  judgment  on,  as  to  how  much 
farther  out  those  jetties  should  be  built  than  8,000  feet  in  order  to  get 
them  into  permanent  deep  water? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  If  you  got  out  to  8,000  feet  you  have  got  into  a 
depth  of  water  which  we  found  by  examination  of  the  charts — the  infor- 
mation was  not  entirely  full  about  it — the  indications  were  that  the 
8-fathom  contour  in  the  sea  bed  was  quite  fixed.  There  seemed  to  be  a 
remarkable  stability  about  the  8-fathom  curve. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  And  you  think  the  sand  would  no  longer  trouble 
when  you  reached  the  8-fathom  depth? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  did  seem,  under  the  ordinary  natural  conditions, 
that  there  had  been  very  little  movement  of  the  sand  at  that  deptli. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  How  far  would  you  go  beyond  the  8,000  feet  before 
reaching  8  fathoms? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  That  is  where  you  get  it  on  the  line  of  the  com- 
l^any's  i)ier. 

Mr,  DOOLITTLE.  In  8,000  feet? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  You  would  get  it  at  8,000  feet  on  the  line  of  the 
company's  ])ier. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  You  believe  that  would  make  a  permanent  harbor 
and  channel? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  You  asked  me  how  long  it  would  take  to  diminish 
the  depth  of  the  entrance  at  that  point.  Now,  understand  me,  we  believe 
that  where  tliis  company's  entrance  is  proposed  the  filling  takes  place 
from  both  directions,  and  with  a  pier  constructed  as  the  company  pro- 
poses, the  sand  would  bank  up  there — the  sand  coming  from  the  east, 
as  it  will — with  any  jetty  you  put  there.  Furthermore,  it  is  exposed  to 
the  influx  of  sand  from  the  west,  which  has  got  to  be  taken  care  of. 
];t  Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  But  if  extended  to  8,000  feet  in  length? 
^  Colonel  Ludlow.  If  it  were  extended  so  as  to  inclose  the  whole 
thing  on  botli  sides  it  would  be  a  long  time  before  you  would  have  any 
trouble  with  it. 

Mr.  ]>00LiTTLE.  And  a  channel  of  that  kind  can  always  be  dredged? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes. 

Ml-.  DOOLITTLE.  Isayit  can  always  be  readily  dredged  if  it  shallows. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  There  is  no  serious  trouble  about  that;  it  has  to 
be  done  on  pretty  much  all  sandy  shores. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Your  summary  is  that  the  canal  is  feasible,  can  be 
built  and  operated  and  maintained  at  a  profit  to  the  builders,  and  with 
advantage  to  the  United  States  and  the  commerce  of  the  world? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  don't  recognize  that  exactly  as  a  quotation  from 
our  report. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Isn't  that  your  conclusion;  isn't  that  true? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  prefer  the  text  of  our  conclusion  as  contained  in 
our  report.    We  confine  ourselves  to  the  engineering  features 


NICARAGUA   CANAL.  223 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  But  the  substance  of  that  is  that  the  canal  is  feasible? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  say  it  is  feasible,  and  we  think  by  modifying 
the  company's  project  in  some  i^articulars  it  can  be  built. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  And  can  be  operated  and  maintained  at  a  profit  to 
the  builders,  and  with  advantage  to  the  United  States  and  the  commerce 
of  the  world? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  You  don't  find  that  in  what  we  say.  Do  you  want 
my  j)ersonal  opinion "? 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Yes,  sir. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  You  asked  me  as  a  member  of  the  board.  We 
didn't  go  into  any  commercial  statistics,  any  navigation  statistics,  or 
military  statistics.  That  was  not  a  i^art  of  what  it  was  our  business  to 
investigate,  aiid  it  would  have  been  impertinent  on  our  part  to  have  done 
so.  We  were  told  to  confine  ourselves  to  engineering,  and  we  were  glad 
to  do  that. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  And  you  desire  to  answer  that  question  by  your 
report? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  stand  right  on  that;  yes,  sir.  I  am  willing  to 
express  my  individual  opinion  if  it  would  be  of  any  value. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  JSTow,  isn't  it  true  that  your  board  believes  that  this 
country  should  be  the  prime  factor,  and  that  the  canal  would  best  be 
built  with  American  talent,  machinery,  and  supplies? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  That  is  a  matter  with  which  the  Board,  collectively, 
have  nothing  whatever  to  do ;  have  never  considered  it.  I  can  not  speak 
for  my  colleagues  on  that  matter. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  How  is  it  with  yourself  ?  Do  you  believe  this  coun- 
try should  be  the  prime  factor,  and  that  it  should  be  best  built  by 
American  talent,  machinery,  and  supplies? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  exj)ressed  the  opinion  that  it  will  have  to  be 
built  by  Jamaica  negroes. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  I  understand — that  is,  so  far  as  the  common  labor 
is  concerned,  but  I  mean  the  general  building? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  think  it  would  be  an  extremely  nice  thing  for  the 
American  engineers  to  take  a  hand  at  this.  The  French  engineers 
tried  the  Panama  Canal  and  wrecked  themselves.  The  English  engi- 
neers had  a  chance  at  the  Manchester  Canal  and  blundered  a  bit — as 
the  Englishman  sometimes  does — and  the  German  had  his  chance  at  the 
Kiel  Canal  and  made  a  success.  Now,  I  want  to  see  the  American 
engineers  take  hold  of  this  Nicaraguan  Canal  and  succeed,  as  they 
will  do.   ' 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  You  have  no  doubt  that  they  will  succeed? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Not  the  least. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Do  you  not  believe  that  Americans  could  build  it 
quicker  and  cheaper  than  any  others? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  have  absolute  faith  in  the  ability  of  the  Ameri- 
cans to  do  almost  anything  better  than  anybody  else,  including  the 
construction  of  canals. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  And  in  answer  to  this  question  you  would  unhesi- 
tatingly say  yes? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  should  say  so. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Have  you  taken  into  the  accounts  on  which  your 
estimates  are  based  the  greatly  lower  prices  of  machinery,  iron,  steel, 
provisions,  powder,  and  all  the  most  modern  methods  for  canal  excava- 
tion, and  utilization  of  electricity,  compressed-air  drills  and  jDumps,  and 
have  you  figured  rail  transportation  per  ton  per  mile  according  to  results 
obtained? 


224  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Oh,  yes;  we  met  tbe  matter  absolutely.  "We  made 
an  investigation  of  this  in  order  to  anive  at  unit  prices  up  to  date — 
last  snminer.  We  resorted  to  every  means  of  informatiim  open  to  us. 
We  took  in  all  the  statistics  we  could  get  from  responsible  and  reliable 
and  capable  people. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Have  you  also  considered  that  your  estimates  for 
this  work  are  upon  a  gold  basis'? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Oh,  yes;  we  have  not  estimated  anything  excei)t 
upon  a  gold  basis. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  All  a  gold  basis? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  could  not  have  made  estimates  upon  a  silver 
basis  down  there,  because  their  silver  is  only  worth  50  cents  on  the 
dollar,  and  it  varies  every  day. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  What  allowance  did  you  make,  if  any,  that  labor, 
except  skilled  labor,  would  be  paid  for  by  silver  in  that  country*? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  didn't  go  into  that  question.  We  depended 
in  that  respect  largely  upon  information  as  to  the  actual  value  of  all 
physical  labor  in  the  Tropics,  getting  our  information  from  capable  and 
well  informed  men. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  You  know  that  all  unskilled  labor  there  will  be  paid 
for  in  silver  ? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Of  course  the  natives  there  take  silver.  They 
never  saw  gold,  and  would  not  know  what  it  was  if  you  gave  it  to  them. 
They  would  be  paid  in  silver. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  You  say  you  did  not  take  that  into  consideration? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  arrived  at  the  matter  by  a  shorter  way.  We 
left  that  consideration  out  because  Ave  found  certain  i)ersons  who  knew 
all  about  that  sort  of  thing.  There  was  a  concurrence  of  opinion  that 
the  actual  value  of  labor  was  about  one-half  what  it  is  in  the  United 
States.  Consequently,  the  value  being  one-half,  the  cost  would  be 
doubled. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  What  proportion  of  the  cost  of  constructing  this 
canal  would  the  unskilled  labor  to  be  employed  make  up? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  don't  know;  we  didn't  make  any  estimate  on 
that. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Could  you  readily  do  so? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Not  in  the  least,  readily.  It  would  be  a  difficult 
investigation,  embracing  a  lot  of  figures.  We  would  have  to  estimate 
the  dift'erent  kinds  of  work  down  there,  as  to  what  would  be  rei)resented 
by  skilled  labor  and  what  by  unskilled  labor,  ordinary  or  brute  labor. 
It  would  vary  a  great  deal  with  the  different  kinds  of  work. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Did  you  allow  that  any  other  items  than  labor  would 
be  atiected  by  the  use  of  silver  in  that  country? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  did  not  go  into  silver  at  all.  We  did  not  con- 
sider that  question  at  all.  We  left  that  out.  We  were  taking  absolute 
prices,  and  all  our  estimates  are  based  on  the  United  States  standard. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  As  though  the  canal  were  being  constructed  in  the 
United  States? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  By  American  engineers  and  the  use  of  American 
money,  yes;  and  with  the  estimates  based  on  American  currency. 
There  is  no  doubt  about  that.  I  think  anybody  who  should  estimate 
that  would  have  to  do  it  on  that  basis.  Otherwise  you  would  get  your- 
self into  fearful  trouble  if  you  should  introduce  the  variable  value  of 
silver  as  a  factor  in  your  estimate. 

The  committee  adjourned  until  2  p.  m. 


NICARAGUA  CANAL.  225 

AFTER  RECESS. 

STATEMENT  OF  COL.  WILLIAM  LUDLOW— Continued. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Mr.  Chairman,  with  your  permission  I  will  be  glad 
to  correct  the  record.  I  showed  this  profile  of  the  Ochoa  Dam  this 
morning  and  stated  it  was  one  of  the  exhibits  accompanying  our  report. 
I  was  in  error  as  to  that. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  On  account  of  its  being  obsolete  you  made  no  use 
of  it? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Of  course  we  had  no  use  for  it.  It  was  submitted 
to  us  as  all  there  was.    We  got  nothing  later,  you  understand. 

Mr.  DoonTTLE.  I  wish  you  would  state  to  the  committee  what  pro- 
portion in  relation  to  the  expense  does  the  unskilled  labor  bear  to  the 
total  expense  in  works  of  this  kind,  and  if  you  made  any  inquiry  or 
attempted  to  inform  yourself  relative  to  that! 

Colonel  Ludlow.  That  proportion  will  vary  everywhere  under  dif- 
ferent conditions,  and  particularly  with  the  nature  of  the  work  to  be 
done.  There  is  much  work  that  only  skilled  labor  can  do,  and  there  is 
much  work  that  unskilled  labor  can  do — digging  a  trench,  wheeling  a 
barrow,  etc. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  There  will  be  a  great  need  for  unskilled  labor  in 
this  work  ? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  There  will  undoubtedly  be  a  large  number  of 
unskilled  laborers  employed  in  connection  with  it. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  And  a  very  large  proportion  of  the  expense  of  con- 
structing the  canal  would  consist  in  the  payment  of  this  unskilled  labor? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes;  of  course  they  would  have  to  be  paid. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  But  a  large  proportion  of  the  total  expense  would 
be  that  paid  out  for  unskilled  labor? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes,  sir;  I  should  say  so;  a  large  proportion. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Can  you  make  any  general  estimate  relative  to  that 
proportion  on  this  work? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  have  not  endeavored  to  do  so  at  all.  I  have 
not  any  data  in  my  mind  to  enable  me  to  answer  that  now. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Would  you  say  one-third  of  the  total  expense 
would  be  wages  paid  to  unskilled  labor? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  should  think  that  would  be 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Or  half? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  is  a  matter  of  estimate.  I  have  not  anything  in 
my  mind  at  the  time  to  guide  me. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Have  you  had  at  any  time  during  your  investiga- 
tion of  this  subject? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  No;  that  would  be  a  thing  I  would  have  to  study 
over. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Have  you  had  that  in  your  mind  at  any  time  during 
the  investigation  of  this  subject? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  No  ;  I  think  not. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  I  wish  you  would  comjiare  for  the  committee  the 
labor  accomplished  by  the  Jamaica  negro  paid  in  silver  with  the  labor 
of  this  country  paid  in  gold. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  can  only  do  that  in  one  way.  The  Jamaica  negro 
was  very  freely  employed  on  the  Panama  Canal,  and  he  was  very  freely 
emi^loyed  on  the  construction  of  the  Costa  Eica  Railroad.  In  both 
cases  the  two  gentlemen  whom  we  were  able  to  get  access  to  and  who 

N   C 15 


226  NICARAGUA   CANAL. 

were  the  best  advised  of  tlie  value  of  tlie  labor  on  those  two  works 
Avere  consulted,  one  being  Colonel  Kives,  who  for  many  years  has  been 
manager  of  the  Panama  Eailway  and  fully  cognizant  of  everything  on 
the  Isthmus,  himself  an  engineer  and  railway  man  of  extended  expe- 
rience at  home  and  a  very  prolonged  experience  in  that  country;  the 
other  being  Mr.  M.  0.  Keith,  an  American,  who  built  the  Costa  Kica 
Eailway,  a  difficult  work,  built  from  Port  Limon  on  the  coast  104  miles 
to  San  Jose,  the  capital  of  Costa  Kica,  reaching  an  altitude  of  5,000 
feet.  To  his  judgment  in  reference  to  the  value  of  labor  and  to  Colonel 
Eives' judgment  in  reference  to  the  value  of  labor  in  that  country  we 
attach  very  great  importance,  and  it  largely  guided  our  judgment. 
The  statements  of  those  two  gentlemen  were  comparatively  confirmed 
by  similar  estimates  made  in  New  York  by  contractors  whom  we  recog- 
nized as  competent  and  responsible  men,  and  whose  judgment  seemed 
generally  to  confirm  the  concurrent  judgment  of  those  two  men  of 
whom  I  spoke.  It  all  ran  in  the  direction  of  showing  that  in  order  to 
estimate  in  this  matter  you  can  take  the  value  of  labor  in  the  United 
States  and  multiply  it  by  two. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  That  is,  the  Jamaica  negro  would  accomplish  half 
as  much  in  the  same  time  as  the  laborer  emj^loyed  in  the  United 
States? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  No,  not  quite  that;  that  the  actual  value  of  labor 
in  the  tropics,  the  actual  value  accomplished  by  the  laborer  in  the 
tropics  for  a  given  quantity  of  work,  would  involve  a  cost  twice  as  much 
as  in  the  United  States.  It  is  not  only  inferior  labor,  but  there  are  the 
climatic  and  health  conditions  as  well. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Have  you  any  means  of  knowing  what  the  experi- 
ence of  the  Nicaragua  Company  was  in  the  employment  of  this  labor 
there? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  am  familiar  with  the  fact,  for  example,  that  they 
did  certain  work. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  But  about  the  successful  employment  of  these  men 
and  their  accomplishment  compared  with  the  labor  of  other  countries? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  They  built  a  railroad  down  there.  There  was  some 
minor  railroad  work  done  by  the  company,  and  they  had  a  certain 
amount  of  experience.  Mr.  Treat  was  immediatelj^  in  charge  of  that 
work.    He  was  the  contractor  under  the  company. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Do  not  you  know  that  the  labor  employed  there  was 
satisfactory  ? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  have  understood  so. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  And,  owing  to  the  fact  that  silver  was  made  use  of 
for  the  payment  of  the  wages  of  those  men,  that  the  labor  was  much 
cheaper,  according  to  the  accomplishment,  than  in  the  United  States  on 
a  gold  basis  ? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Oh,  yes;  the  labor  is  cheaper  and  proportionately 
less  effective,  too. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  I  say  in  accordance  with  the  accomplishment  of  the 
laborer  it  was  much  cheaper  than  the  laborer  on  such  work  in  the  United 
States. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  depends  upon  what  you  mean  by  that.  Colonel 
Eives  and  Mr.  Keith  would  tell  you  it  is  not  cheaper,  and  that  while 
they  got  less  they  did  so  much  less  that  the  work  costs  twice  as  much. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Do  you  mean  to  say  the  same  amount  of  work  done 
there  would  cost  twice  as  much  in  gold  as  in  the  United  States  ? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  As  the  same  amount  of  work  done  in  the  United 
States. 


NICARAGUA   CANAL.  227 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Would  cost  twice  as  much  in  gold? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  That  is  our  understanding  of  the  distinct  declara- 
tion of  those  gentlemen. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  It  would  cost  twice  as  much  in  gold? 

Colonel  LuDLO  w.  In  gold,  standard  value. 

Mr.  Sherman.  In  other  words,  the  work  is  worth  one-fourth  of  what 
it  is  here? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Practically,  if  you  choose.  If  they  are  only  paid 
half  the  wages,  the  work  done  there  would  be  practically  one-foarth, 
if  you  choose,  by  their  general  estimate  of  it.  We  had  nothing  to  steer 
by  ourselves  except  a  number  of  opinions  aud  statements,  and  according 
to  the  statements  of  those  gentlemen  if  you  want  to  estimate  the  cost 
of  a  piece  of  work  in  Nicaragua  you  estimate  the  cost  of  it  in  the 
United  States  and  multiply  that  cost  by  two  and  you  will  get  down  to 
what  it  would  cost  in  Nicaragua. 

Mr.  Patterson.  You  mean  by  this  the  amount  of  labor  which 
would  cost  $100  in  gold  in  the  United  States — I  mean  the  number  of 
days  of  work — could  be  purchased  in  South  America  for  $100  in  silver, 
but  the  result  of  that  day's  work  would  only  be  half? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  One-fourth,  practically.  There  is  another  divisor 
there.  A  given  amount  of  work  in  Nicaragua  would  cost  twice  what  it 
would  cost  in  the  United  States,  and  you  can  figure  it  any  way  you  like. 

Mr.  Patterson.  That  is  the  result? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  That  is  the  outcome. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Suppose  there  is  a  job  of  work  that  will  cost 
$10,000  in  gold  in  this  country.  You  can  employ  men  in  Central 
America  to  work  on  that  job,  paying  them  the  same  per  diem  in  silver 
that  is  paid  in  the  United  States  in  gold,  but  still  at  the  same  time  when 
the  work  was  completed  it  would  cost  $20,000? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Twice  as  much  as  in  the  United  States.  I  think 
there  is  no  doubt  about  that. 

Mr.  Noble.  And  that  opens  up  the  question  of  what  the  wages 
would  probably  be  in  case  there  was  a  large  demand  for  labor. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  That  is  true.  That  estimate  includes  everything. 
It  Includes  disease  and  sickness,  and  extra  employment,  if  you  please, 
of  skilled  labor  as  well,  and  in  many  cases  duplicate  skilled  labor  you 
have  to  have,  because  you  can  not  get  another  fellow  if  this  man  gets 
sick.  It  includes  all  these  contingencies,  and  inasmuch  as  it  was  impos- 
sible to  go  into  all  details,  we  accepted  as  a  general  guide  of  our  j  udg- 
ment,  with  modifications  for  particular  localities,  that  the  cost  of  the 
work  in  Nicaragua  would  be  substantially  twice  what  it  would  be  in 
the  United  States  for  a  given  piece  of  work.  That  is  as  definite  and 
as  clear  as  I  can  make  it. 

Mr.  Patterson.  In  other  words,  if  it  costs  so  much  to  construct 
such  a  work  in  the  United  States,  say  $75,000,000,  in  South  America  it 
would  cost  $150,000,000  of  the  same  kind  of  money,  practically? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  That  is  precisely  what  I  mean  to  say. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Does  that  apply  to  anything  but  labor? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  That  applies  to  the  whole  thing. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Do  you  think  that  applies  to  machinery? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Everything  in  which  the  element  of  cost  enters. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  That  is,  a  dredge  down  there  would  cost  twice  as 
much  as  in  the  United  States,  and  powder  would  cost  twice  as  much, 
and  cement  would  cost  twice  as  much 

Colonel  Ludlow.  No;  not  at  all. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  That  is  what  you  said. 


228  NICARAGUA   CANAL. 

Mr.  Patteeson.  You  do  not  mean  that  the  items  would  cost  twice 
as  much,  but  the  whole  cost  would  be  twice  as  much? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  That  is  it  exactly.  You  undertook  to  apply  that 
general  statement  to  each  independent  item,  and  it  does  not;  but  you 
talk  about  dredging.  Suppose  you  made  a  contract  with  Mr.  Bates  to 
go  to  Nicaragua  and  dredge  a  million  yards  or  ten  million  yards.  He 
would  give  you  a  certain  price  for  it.  Would  not  that  price  include 
getting  the  dredge  there? 

Mr,  DooLiTTLE.  Naturally. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Naturally ;  and  that  is  one  element  of  cost. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  How  much  would  that  be? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  would  include  possibly,  if  the  work  was  suffi- 
ciently large,  sinking  his  dredge  in  the  work;  he  would  charge  the 
whole  cost  of  his  dredge. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Would  not  that  same  rule  apply  to  any  work  in  the 
United  States? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Oh,  surely;  but  look  at  the  distance  you  have 
got  to  go. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  You  are  speaking  now  on  the  subject  of  dredging. 
What  do  you  suppose  will  be  the  cost  to  take  one  of  the  dredges  built 
as  these  dredges  are,  perfectly  seaAvorthy,  from  San  Francisco  to  Brito? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  What  would  be  its  use  at  Brito? 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Or,  say,  from  New  Orleans  to  Greytown? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  What  would  you  do  with  it  if  you  had  it  there? 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Make  use  of  it  in  the  construction  of  the  canal? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  How  could  you  use  it  on  the  canal?  There  is  no 
entrance;  you  can  not  get  in  there;  there  are  no  harbors  there.  You 
can  not  do  anything  with  a  dredge  taken  down  in  that  way. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Then  you  state  to  the  committee  that  a  canal  that 
would  cost  $100,000,000  in  the  United  States  of  the  same  character  as 
the  Nicaragua  Canal  in  that  country  would  cost  $200,000,000? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  That  is  exactly  what  we  mean,  and  that  is  pre- 
cisely what  we  understand  to  be  the  case.  Now,  since  I  have  referred 
here  to  gentlemen  who  have  had  experience  in  these  things,  we  find  that 
opinion  further  confirmed  by  the  estimate  of  Colonel  Childs,  who  was  a 
very  competent  engineer,  and  he  made  a  very  careful  survey  of  the  canal 
across  the  Isthmus  and  reported  in  1852.  He  gives  in  parallel  columns 
the  price  of  the  construction  of  that  canal  according  to  the  New  York 
prices,  and  then  makes  an  estimate  according  to  Nicaragua  prices 
derived  from  the  use  of  his  best  judgment  in  using  the  local  labor  and 
taking  into  account  all  local  conditions.  Now,  it  is  rather  remarkable 
that  Colonel  Childs's  Nicaragua  figures  are  almost  exactly  double  the 
New  York  figures. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Just  one  question.  Now,  you  spoke  of  conferring 
with  Mr.  Hives  and  other  gentlemen,  Mr.  Eives  having  had  long  expe- 
rience on  the  route  of  the  Panama.    Now,  my  understanding  is 

Colonel  Ludlow.  And  in  the  United  States  also,  if  you  please,  prior 
to  going  down  there. 

Mr.  Patterson  (continuing).  My  understanding  is  that  at  Nicaragua 
the  conditions  prevailing  there  are  much  more  adverse  to  life,  and  that 
natural  causes  augmentnig,  the  cost  of  that  work  there  might  be  much 
greater  than  at  Nicaragua.  My  information  is,  after  you  get  out  of  the 
alluvial  land  there,  all  along  that  river  and  this  lake,  that  the  climate  is 
comparatively  healthful  compared  with  the  route  at  Panama, and  I  want 
to  know  now  if  you  think  there  ought  not  to  be  a  discount  in  your 
estimate  growing  out  of  the  difference  in  the  conditions  at  those  two 
points? 


NICAEAGUA   CANAL.  229 

Colonel  Lttdlow.  I  apprehend,  sir,  that  if  the  discount  were  to  be 
made,  it  would  have  to  be  the  other  way.  I  should  be  afraid  to  make 
the  discount  in  favor  of  the  Nicaragua  route. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Why? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Well,  for  one  reason,  the  rainfall  at  Panama  is 
only  about  one-half  that  at  Nicaragua.  That  in  a  construction  ques- 
tion is  a  very  imjDortant  one.  We  have  records  from  Colonel  Rives 
of  the  Panama  rainfall,  and  we  have  a  partial  record  of  the  Nicaragua 
rainfall,  and  a  comparison  of  the  two  shows  the  rainfall  on  the  whole 
is  about  one-half  on  the  Panama  line  what  it  is  on  the  Nicaragua  line. 
That,  of  course,  would  be  a  distinct  advantage  in  favor  of  the  Panama, 
both  having,  however,  an  excess  of  water  in  either  case.  The  Panama 
route  has  another  very  marked  advantage,  if  you  clioose — I  am  not 
advocating  the  Panama  route,  but  I  am  stating  in  answer  to  your  ques- 
tion what  I  believe  to  be  the  facts — it  has  an  immense  advantage  in 
that  at  both  ends  are  absolutely  safe  and  capable  harbors.  They  are 
in  constant  and  daily  use,  and  have  been  for  years,  by  steamers  of  all 
dimensions,  practically. 

There  is  a  harbor  at  Colon — and  an  excellent  one — and  there  is  a  har- 
bor at  Panama — and  an  excellent  one — perfectly  sheltered  and  safe. 
Furthermore,  the  distance  across  the  Isthmus  of  Panama  is  only  47 
miles,  while  the  distance  across  the  Isthmus  of  Nicaragua  is  170.  Fur- 
thermore, the  Panama  Railroad  has  for  forty  years  been  in  existence 
at  Panama,  and  immediately  adjoins  the  line  of  the  canal  the  whole 
distance,  with  all  facilities  for  landing,  distributing,  and  transporting 
material,  men,  and  everything  else.  In  certain  respects  the  physical 
conditions  at  Panama  are  very  favorable  as  compared  with  those  exist- 
ing over  the  other  route.  Now,  then,  on  the  other  hand,  if  you  choose, 
I  will  lean 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Give  us  the  other  side  of  the  picture. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  will  lean  a  little  that  way.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  sanitary  history  of  the  Panama  enterprise  is  very  dreadful.  The 
mortality  down  there,  both  in  the  construction  of  the  railroad  and  the 
construction  of  the  canal  as  far  as  it  has  gone,  and  it  is  apparently 
about  half  built,  was  very  great  indeed,  very  great;  the  mortahty  was 
tremendous. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Do  you  remember  what  percentage  it  was  during 
any  given  time? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  No,  it  is  not  easily  ascertained.  The  hospital 
records  show  the  mortality.  Of  course,  it  is  not  likely  we  would  really 
get  the  whole  of  it,  because  people  do  not  like  to  publish  those  partic- 
ulars. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Have  you  any  reason  to  believe  there  would  be 
less  mortality  at  Nicaragua? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  think  we  have  reason  to  believe  it  would  be  less. 
All  the  same,  you  go  down  to  the  Costa  Rica  Railroad,  which  leaves  the 
coast  and  presently  climbs  the  mountains  and  gets  into  almost  the  most 
magnificent  country  you  ever  saw.  Mr.  Keith  told  us  when  he  came  to 
build  the  railroad  he  had,  of  course,  to  import  the  labor.  You  can  not 
get  those  natives  down  there  to  do  work  of  that  kind.  They  are  not  fit 
for  it,  or  qualified  to  do  it,  and  they  do  not  want  to  do  it.  He  tried  to 
get  the  Jamaica  negro,  but  the  Panama  Canal  was  drawing  largely  on 
the  Jamaica  resources,  and  he  could  not  get  what  he  wanted.  He 
imported  negroes  from  the  United  States,  and  he  imported  Chinamen, 
and  imported  Italians.  The  United  States  negroes  were  of  very  little 
good  down  there.    They  were  discontented  and  unhappy,  and  died  off 


230  NICARAGUA   CANAL. 

like  sbeep.  The  Chinese  rotted.  Out  of  the  large  nnmber — several 
hundred — of  the  Italians  whom  he  imported,  very  few  of  them  ever  got 
away.  They  are  there  now.  The  Jamaica  negro  is  the  fellow  who  seems 
to  stand  that  sort  of  thing  better  than  anybody  else,  and  they  did  better 
with  him,  and  after  awhile  they  were  able  to  get  enough  of  that  labor 
to  go  on  and  complete  their  work,  but  all  the  while  the  mortality  was 
great,  and  according  to  these  men  it  was  extremely  formidable. 

Now,  at  Nicaragua  they  have  had  sonie  experience,  but  very  little 
practical  experience,  of  this  kind.  The  difficulty  seems  to  come  about 
from  these  terrible  epidemics  of  pernicious  fever  and  all  kinds  of  fevers. 
It  is  as  soon  as  you  begin  to  break  the  ground,  and  particularly  when 
you  begin  to  drink  the  water  in  the  vicinity  of  the  broken  ground;  it 
seems  as  though  the  soil  undisturbed  was  all  right.  We  went  through 
that  country  without  having  an  attack  of  fever  or  anything  else.  The 
health  statistics  of  Nicaragua  are  very  satisfactory,  at  Greytown  par- 
ticularly. They  have  fevers  there,  but  they  have  fevers  everywhere  in 
low  lying  countries,  and  we  found  no  more  indications  of  mortality  in 
Nicaragua,  Greytown  or  elsewhere,  than  in  numerous  places  on  the  Gulf 
coast  or  on  our  South  Atlantic  and  other  coasts  where  the  districts  are 
supposed  to  be  malarious. 

Mr.  Patterson.  There  was  a  considerable  section  of  the  railway 
constructed  out  from  Greytown? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes,  sir;  11^  miles  of  it. 

Mr.  Patterson.  And  there  seems  to  have  been  a  very  considerable 
force  employed  at  that  timef 

Colonel  Ludlow.  There  was  quite  a  force. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Did  you  make  inquiries  to  ascertain  the  mortality 
in  regard  to  that? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  has  been  stated  in  the  company's  papers,  and 
we  have  dealt  with  that.  They  gave  us  hospital  records  for  that  work 
and  they  were  very  satisfactory,  but  we  could  not  disregard  the  fact 
and  fail  to  take  into  account  the  conditions  of  the  labor.  These  men 
were  not  excavating  clay.  They  were  not  digging  through  clay.  They 
were  described  in  the  canal  company's  reports  as  building  a  railroad 
through  the  swamp  knee  deep  or  up  to  their  necks  in  the  water.  Now 
that  is  another  imj)ortant  thing.  The  American  negro  can  work  in  a 
rice  field  without  getting  any  serious  effect  out  of  it,  where  it  would  kill 
a  white  man. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Is  not  that  about  as  unhealthy  as  it  would  be 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Apparently  the  unhealthy  thing  is  disturbing  the 
ground.  When  you  begin  to  break  the  clay  and  drink  the  water,  that 
is  the  time  of  troubTe,  and  it  will  not  be  safe  to  assume  that  there  would 
not  be  a  very  considerable  mortality  in  connection  with  any  of  that 
work  in  that  portion  of  country.  You  have  to  make  hospital  districts, 
to  make  all  hospital  arrangements  with  great  care,  and  you  have  to  have 
your  hospital  regulations  rigidly  enforced,  and  you  must  not  allow  men 
to  drink  rum  in  that  country,  and  you  must  have  a  dry  place  for  them 
to  sleep.  Those  who  were  employed  in  building  this  railroad  at  Grey- 
town were  brought  back  at  night  to  Greytown  to  sleep. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  Do  they  have  yellow  fever  at  Nicaragua  along  the 
line  of  this  canal? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Tliey  have  some  yellow  fever  in  Nicaragua,  but  it 
is  not  imi)ortant  or  a  difficult  matter.  They  have  another  class  of 
fever  which  the  people  call  ''pernicious  fever." 

Mr.  Doolittle.  Is  the  j'cllow  fever  ever  prevalent  there?  Are  not 
those  cases  brought  in,  and  is  it  not  frequently  the  case  they  are  brought 
from  Panama  for  restoration  to  health? 


NICARAGUA   CANAL.  231 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  tliiuk  if  you  will  do  the  board  the  honor  to  exam- 
ine its  report,  you  will  find  we  have  stated  that  very  fact  in  our  report. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  That  is  done.  Then  there  is  no  prevailing  type  of 
fever  aside  trom  this  malarial  fever  of  which  you  sijoke"? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  They  have  malarial  fever  and  the  pernicious  fever 
of  which  I  spoke.  The  doctors  dislike  to  refer  to  it  as  yellow  fever, 
but  it  kills  a  man  in  a  day  or  two.  1  believe  the  distinction  between 
yellow  fever  and  pernicious  fever  is  that  one  is  contagious  and  the  other 
not,  or  something  of  that  kind. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  But  Nicaragua  is  healthy  compared  with  Panama'? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  On  the  whole,  I  think  the  conditions  are  better, 
and  I  donbt  if  the  Panama  enterprise  ever  had  proper  hospital  care,  etc. 
I  think  the  mortality  at  Panama  and  Costa  Eica  could  be  very  much 
diminished  at  Nicaragua,  and  the  board  has  taken  that  view  of  it,  and 
we  are  very  glad  to  do  it. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Now,  I  have  noted  an  item  of  four  millions  for  man- 
agement and  engineering  to  which  20  per  cent  is  added,  making 
$4,800,000.  Please  segregate  the  items  and  describe  in  detail  the 
organization  which  would  cost  this  sum  in  gold  coin — that  is,  the 
$4,800,000? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  On  what  page  is  that?  Do  you  refer  to  our 
report? 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Yes,  sir. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  will  examine  it.  For  management  and  engineer- 
ing we  made  a  round  sum  for  that  which  represents  a  certain  i^ercentage 
of  the  total  estimated  cost  of  the  work.    That  is  all  that  it  represents. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Now  I  ask  this:  Twenty  per  cent  is  added,  making 
$4,800,000;  are  you  able  to  segregate  the  items  and  describe  in  detail 
the  organization  of  the  management  which  would  cost  this  sum  in  gold 
coin  ? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  do  not  make  the  figures  in  that  way.  We  put 
that  figure  as  a  percentage  on  the  total  cost  of  the  work. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  For  management? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  For  management  and  engineering.  It  is  the  usual 
practice  in  estimates  of  this  kind. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  How  much  of  that  would  be  engineering  and  how 
much  would  be  for  management? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  They  all  run  in  together. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  They  must  have  been  segregated  at  some  time  dur- 
ing their  consideration? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  They  were  not. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Should  not  that  have  been  done? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  do  not  know  it  should  have  been  done. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE  (continuing).  By  apparently  competent  engineers, 
such  as  constituted  your  board  ? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Understand,  our  time  was  somewhat  limited. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  I  understand. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  could  not  examine  every  point. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  But  here  is  a  very  large  amount  of  money, 
$4,800,000,  and  it  seems  to  me 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  is  not  $4,800,000;  it  is  $4,000,000. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  But  if  you  add  the  20  per  cent  it  makes  $4,800,000? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Oh,  of  tlie  whole  thing,  yes. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  I  should  like  to  know  very  much  how  tliat  amounts 
to  that  great  sum? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  represents  a  certain  per  cent  of  the  total  cost  of 


232  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

the  work,  wliich,  iu  au  enterprise  of  this  kind,  is  usually  charged  in 
that  way. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  You  say  ''usually?" 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes,  usually. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  In  what  cases  is  it  charged  in  that  way! 

Colonel  Ludlow.  In  almost  all  cases  of  that  sort.  I  am  going  to 
quote  an  illustration  of  that  from  a  report  which  the  company  had  from 
the  Bogart  board.    Do  you  remember  that? 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Very  well. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  was  a  board  of  consulting  engineers,  which  board 
met  in  Few  York  to  consult  the  data  and  make  a  report,  and  it  reported 
on  the  estimates  of  the  comi)any  with  the  comi^any's  data  and  figures. 
Now,  if  you  will  examine  that,  you  will  find  that  the  Bogart  board  ad<led 
a  sum  to  the  company's  estimate  at  that  time  of  not  less  than  $0,250,000, 
covering  engineering,  management,  labor  agencies,  shops,  police,  sani- 
tary service,  and  incidentals. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Now,  I  suppose  that  was  composed  of  elements? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Here  they  are;  they  lump  them  together  under  that 
sum  of  $6,250,000.    This  is  the  company's  own  board,  you  understand. 

Mr.  Shekman.  That  gives  certain  elements,  and  you  do  not  give  any 
elements. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  beg  pardon;  we  give  practically  the  same  head- 
ing. We  call  ours  "management  and  engineering."  We  might  have 
called  it  "  administration  and  engineering." 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  And  your  estimate  here  is  $4,800,000? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  While  the  Bogart  board  put  it  at  $6,250,000,  with 
20  per  cent  added  for  contingencies,  making  $7,500,000. 

Mr.  Sheeman.  But  they  specify  more  headings  than  you  do? 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  It  would  be  supposed  that  these  elements  were 
considered  by  these  people.  I  would  like  to  know  in  regard  to  it  very 
much,  and  I  think  the  committee  would  like  to  know. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  specify  even  more  fully  than  that,  because  the 
hospital  service  is  a  separate  charge,  and  even  after  you  have  added 
the  management  and  engineering  items  of  $4,000,000  and  the  hospital 
service  of  $1,000,000,  we  are  still  a  million  and  a  quarter  short  of  the 
Bogart  board's  estimate  for  similar  services.  I  do  not  think  we  were 
unduly  extravagant  in  that  respect. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  In  what  intelligible  way  do  you  add  the  20  per  cent 
for  contingencies;  on  account  of  what? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Unforeseen  and  unspecified  amounts  which  you 
can  not  anticipate,  and  you  do  not  know  how  to  consider. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  In  management  and  engineering? 

Colonel  Ludlow  (continuing).  But  which  you  know  are  inevitable, 
which  are  always  inevitable,  and  which  experience  has  demonstrated 
are  inevitable,  and  the  contingencies  of  a  work  of  this  kind  is  always 
an  extremely  formidable  item. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  And  you  are  unable  to  state  to  the  committee  what 
the  elements  are  that  make  up  that  amount  of  $4,800,000? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Why,  they  are  all  the  elements  which  in  the  con- 
duct of  a  work  of  this  kind  would  come  under  the  head  of  manage- 
ment and  engineering. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  I  mean  the  relative  prices  of  each  jiarticular 

Colonel  Ludlow.  What  is  management  and  what  is  administration? 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  How  much  will  that  cost? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  There  are  headquarters,  offices,  salaries  to  be  paid, 
engineers,  which  constitute  the  company's  service,  have  to  be  paid — that 
is  all  staff,  that  is  all  management,  all  engineering. 


NICARAGUA   CANAL.  233 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  How  many  of  tliem  in  a  work  of  this  kind  would  you 
say  would  be  under  this  estimate,  to  make  up  this  estimate.  That  is 
what  I  am  trying  to  ascertain. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Really,  you  can  not  expect  that.  I  am  no  intel- 
lectual giant.    I  only  know  what  I  know,  and  I  am  willing 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  You  are  an  intelligent,  practical  engineer? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  profess  to  be,  quite. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  When  a  large  sum  of  this  kind  is  made  up  and  sub- 
mitted, we  would  like  to  know  in  regard  to  it. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  There  is  a  much  larger  sum  of  the  company's  just 
below. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  But  it  seems  to  me  we  ought  to  know  about  that 
when  we  are  considering  the  cost  of  this  work,  and  I  would  like  to 
know  whether  or  not,  in  your  judgment,  after  going  over  these  elements, 
these  might  not  be  cut  down.  That  is  what  I  am  desirous  of  doing. 
I  want  to  get  at  the  kernel  of  it. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  is  a  comparatively  small  percentage  on  the  total 
estimate  of  the  cost  of  the  construction  of  a  work  of  this  kind. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  What  is  the  percentage  including  the  20  per  cent? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  is  about  3  per  cent. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  That  is  including  the  20  per  cent  you  have  added? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes,  sir  5  it  is  a  bagatelle. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Twenty  per  cent  is  one-fifth  of  the  whole  amount, 
and  would  not  seem  to  be  an  insignificant  amount  at  all  in  proportion? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  But  the  $800,000  is  an  insignificant  amount  in  com- 
parison with  the  items  we  are  figuring,  and  do  you  suppose  it  is  possible 
for  anybody  to  make  a  close  estimate  of  this  project  from  the  informa- 
tion we  have  had  ? 

3Ir.  DooLiTTLE.  I  suppose  you  would  be  able  to  arrive  at  some  con- 
clusion in  order  to  arrive  at  the  elements  which  make  up  the  sum  of 
nearly  $5,000,000  to  tell  this  committee  what  they  are  for? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  If  you  make  that  request  we  will  go  to  work  and 
get  it  up,  but  I  do  not  know  what  use  it  will  be  after  you  get  it. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  It  would  enable  the  committee  to  judge  intelligently 
in  regard  to  that  estimate. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Would  it? 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Yes,  sir. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  This  is  all  there  is  about  it.  This  estimate  of  3 
per  cent  for  management,  superintendence,  etc.,  is  about  the  usual 
allowance  made  on  work  of  this  kind,  and  why  should  we  not  have 
accepted  tbat  without  undertaking  to  build  up  our  details  which  are 
impossible  to  formulate,  if  you  choose,  I  do  not  know.  Suppose  you 
want  to  do  this  work.  How  do  you  go  to  work  to  do  it?  Eirst  you 
formulate  your  project,  so  as  to  understand  what  you  have  to  do  and 
know  how  you  are  going  to  do  it.  Then  you  block  that  off  into  sections 
of  a  certain  kind  5  they  are  bid  for  by  contractors  independent  of  the 
other  sections,  or  conjointly  with  them  if  yon  choose.  Now  all  that 
kind  of  preliminary  organization  with  a  view  of  getting  to  work  must 
of  necessity  follow  the  final  preparation  of  your  project  and  full  ascer- 
tainment of  the  price.  We  are  not  prepared  to  put  this  work  under 
contract  until  we  make  specifications  for  it 

Mr.  PATTERSON.  Let  me  see  if  I  understand  you.  The  labor  contin- 
gencies, shops,  polioe,  sanitary  services,  incidentals,  etc.,  would  come 
under  the  general  terms  of  administration? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  ''Management  and  engineering,"  we  call  it. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Or  administration? 


234  NICARAGUA   CANAL. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  If  yoii  clioose. 

Mr.  Patterson.  IS'ow,  tlie  exijerience  of  engineers  is  that  about  3 
per  cent  of  the  total  cost  is  taken  up  with  those  expenses  coming  under 
that  head? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes. 

Mr.  Patterson.  But  it  would  be  very  difficult  in  the  outset  to  cal- 
culate and  say  how  much  of  that  would  be  paid  for  labor  agencies,  how 
muoh  for  shoi)8,  police,  sanitary  service,  and  incidentals;  but  engineers, 
in  making  an  estimate,  generally  estimate  that  the  cost  of  this  engineer- 
ing and  management,  or  administration,  will  be  about  3  percent  of  the 
total  cost  of  the  work? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  You  have  got  it  exactly;  I  could  not  have  expressed 
it  better. 

My.  Doolittle.  That  is  true,  is  it  not,  where  work  is  taken  at  the 
beginning  of  all  great  work  of  this  character  without  surveys? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes.  Well,  there  is  a  good  deal  of  surveying  work 
that  has  been  done  there;  but  it  is  a  question  of  engineering,  if  you 
please.  Your  i)roject  is  supposed  to  have  been  completed.  You  have 
made  your  preliminary  surveys ;  you  have  made  your  final  investigation 
and  final  project  and  prepared  your  specifications,  and  you  want  to  put 
your  work  under  contract.  We  would  suppose  that  this  is  where  you 
begin.  We  begin,  say,  with  the  completed  project  and  specifications 
for  the  work  and  preparations,  issue  advertisements,  and  invite  these 
gentlemen  to  come  in  and  bid  on  them.  We  have  reached  no  such 
l)oint  yet. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  Is  it  usual  to  charge  up  3  per  cent  against  the  work 
on  account  of  management  and  engineering 

Colonel  Ludlow.  And  administration  and  outside  expenses,  labor 
agencies,  and  so  on. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  Do  you  say  it  is  usual  then? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes ;  that  is  what  it  is  for. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  I  understood  you  to  say  a  moment  ago  the  3  per  cent 
was  charged  when  the  work  was  first  undertaken? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  did  not  mean  in  order  to  make  preliminary  sur- 
veys. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  In  what  great  work  of  this  kind  have  you  ever 
known  that  to  be  done? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  What? 

Mr.  Doolittle.  To  charge  3  per  cent  for  management  and  engineer- 
ing after  the  preliminary  engineering  had  been  done? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  There  are  the  estimates  made  on  this  work  by  the 
Bogart  board  at  Kew  York. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  Did  not  that  contemplate  the  entire  work  of  the 
canal? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Not  in  the  least. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  Preliminary  surveys  and  everything  else? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Not  in  the  least.    Their  report  is  in  1889. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  Now,  you  have  an  item  of  $1,000,000  for  hospital 
service,  to  which  is  added  20  per  cent,  making  $1,200,000? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  Why  did  you  not  consider  the  modern  contract  and 
railroad  practice  in  this  country  by  which  $200,000  spent  on  buildings 
and  apparatus  would  amply  sutlice,  and  that  a  deduction  from  the  pay 
roll  of  $1  per  month  per  man  would  liberally  support  them  without 
further  cost?  Why  is  there  not  here  a  saving  on  engineer  management 
and  hospital  a(?counts  ? 


NICARAGUA   CANAL.  235 

Colonel  Ludlow.  What  is  all  tliis  about  railway  practice? 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Do  not  you  understand  it  is  the  practice  of  railway 
construction  here  to  retain  $1  ])er  month  from  the  wages  of  every  man 
employed,  or  a  proportion  of  that  per  week  for  hospital  dues,  and  in 
that  way  the  hospital  service  is  kept  up?    Do  you  know  that  is  true? 

Colonel  Ludlow,  I  think  very  likely  it  is  true. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Could  not  that  be  done  with  advantage  in  this 
work? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  With  the  Jamaica  negro? 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  With  the  Jamaica  negro  or  any  other  laboring  man. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  think  if  you  hire  liim  for  so  much  per  week,  or  so 
much  per  day,  or  so  much  per  mouth,  he  would  ratlier  receive  that  sum, 
and  furthermore  the  company  ought  to  do  that  itself  for  two  or  three 
reasons.    You  have  half  a  dozen  contracts  on  that  job 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  And  you  have  half  a  dozen  systems  of  hospital 
service  ? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  You  would  come  pretty  near  it. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Why  could  not  those  be  paid  as  other  laborers 
employed  on  great  works  pay  for  them  ? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Do  you  suppose  whether  you  pay  that  money  to  the 
laborer  and  take  it  back  again  or  whether  you  pay  him  the  difference 
and  keep  it,  or  do  not  pay  him  at  all,  it  is  going  to  pay  for  the  cost  of 
these  hospitals? 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Why  could  not  it  be  done  there  just  as  it  is  done  in 
other  instances,  and  which  is  a  universal  practice? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  In  which  an  additional  allowance  is  made  and  then 
it  is  taken  back  again  ? 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  It  is  not  taken  back;  it  is  simply  retained. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  For  hospital  service? 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Most  surely. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  There  is  no  contingency  service  down  there.  You 
have  to  build  your  hospitals. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Certainly  you  build  the  hospitals,  and  then  you 
retain  a  portion  of  the  wages,  as  is  done  in  this  country  on  all  these  great 
"works,  a  percentage  for  hospital  service.  Do  you  know  of  any  good 
reason  why  this  system  could  not  be  adopted  and  made  use  of  in  the 
construction  of  the  Nicaragua  Canal? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes;  you  would  save  nothing  by  that  arrangement 
at  all. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  Can  you  explain  to  the  committee  why  something  is 
not  saved  when  this  dollar  a  month  is  taken  out  of  the  wages,  or  that 
proportion  weekly  is  taken  out  of  the  wages,  of  every  man  employed  on 
the  work;  is  not  that  a  saving  to  the  company  and  a  reasonable 
condition  ? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  is  very  much  as  if  you  undertook  to  make  a  con- 
tract with  the  contractor  by  which  he  agrees  to  make  a  certain  amount 
of  excavations,  furnishing  his  own  railroad 

Mr.  Doolittle.  Do  you  not  know  that  system  is  universally  made 
use  of  in  this  country? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  do  not  know  that  it  has  anything  to  do  with 
things  down  there.  The  conditions  are  not  comparable  in  a  civilized 
country  like  this  where  a  railroad  employee  if  he  is  hurt  can  be  sent  to 
a  hospital  at  the  end  of  the  line,  or  at  some  portion  of  the  line,  and  the 
expense  is  paid  by  the  com])any,  which  reimburses  itself  by  collecting 
out  of  the  wages;  it  is  a  totally  different  thing  in  an  uncivilized  coun- 
try down  there  where  you  have  to  create  everything. 


236  NICARAGUA   CANAL. 

Mr.  DoOLiTTLB.  The  men  are  paid  as  in  otlier  countries  at  stated 
times? 

Mr.  Patterson.  Would  not  an  arrangement  of  that  kind  referred  to 
by  my  friend,  Mr.  Doolittle,  necessarily  result  in  paying  the  laborer  a 
dollar  a  month  more? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  In  order  to  get  it  back  again;  that  is  exactly  the 
point  I  make. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  Why  do  you  say  that?  Why  would  not  the  laborer 
down  there  submit  to  that  custom  which  operates  to  protect  them  as 
anybody  else? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Is  it  the  intelligent  and  civilized  American  laborer 
you  are  talking  about? 

Mr.  Doolittle.  Is  the  intelligent  and  civilized  American  laborer 
employed  in  the  United  States  on  that  kind  of  work? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  comes  pretty  near  it. 

Mr.  Doolittle,  I  do  not  think  it  is. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  You  are  not  going  to  do  it  down  there. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  Do  you  not  know  that  gangs  of  Italians  employed 
in  this  country  are  employed  under  conditions  of  that  kind  on  those 
great  works  ? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  think  it  is  very  likely,  because  there  are  hospitals 
around ;  there  are  none  down  there. 

The  Chairman.  May  I  sumbit  that  this  colloquy  is  scarcely  perti- 
nent, and  it  is  immaterial  to  the  purposes  of  this  investigation? 

Mr.  Doolittle.  Here  is  an  item  of  a  million  dollars? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  There  is  a  great  deal  more  than  that  in  this  item. 

The  Chairman.  I  think  it  is  not  material. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  will  say  this  in  a  general  way  that  our  estimate 
of  a  million  dollars  was  made  up  on  the  assumption  that  we  might  have 
to  provide  somewhere  between  four  or  five  hospitals,  and  that  a  suffi- 
cient sum  should  be  allowed  for  construction  and  equipment  of  these 
hospitals  for  a  number  of  men  amounting  to  perhai)S  10,000,  15,000,  or 
20,000  without  much  facilities  for  transi)ortation  to  and  fro  and  that 
sort  of  thing;  and  without  mixing  up  the  work  of  one  contract  with  the 
work  of  another,  we  thought  it  would  be  better  to  take  the  eastern, 
separate  the  dilierent  sections,  it  being  a  long  distance  over  to  the 
western  division,  and  thought  perhaps  there  would  be  four  or  five  hos- 
pitals, one  at  each  of  the  two  harbors,  one  possibly  on  the  left  of  the 
lake,  or  on  the  east  side  at  the  exit  of  the  San  Juan  River,  and  possibly 
another  in  the  San  Francisco  basin  or  on  the  east  divide.  In  a  general 
way  we  considered  that  would  be  what  it  would  be  necessary  to  do. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  Now,  for  management  and  engineering  and  this 
hospital  service  the  estimate  amounts  to  $0,000,000  in  round  numbers. 
Need  they  cost  that  under  usual  prevailing  methods  of  management? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  is  the  usual  percentage,  that  is  the  reason. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  You  think  they  need  cost  that  under  prevailing 
methods? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes,  sir;  you  are  going  into  a  strange  country. 
You  have  to  run  your  administration  here  and  there  too. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  Now,  I  wish  you  to  state  to  the  committee  the  ele- 
ments of  expense  in  the  dredging? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Dredging  where? 

Mr.  Doolittle.  In  Nicaragua — in  dredgingthe  canal,  lake,  river,  etc.  ? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  The  elements  of  expense  are  the  preparation  of  the 
plant  and  its  delivery  at  the  site  where  it  is  to  be  used ;  the  taking  down 
and  transportation  from  the  United  States  or  elsewhere  of  all  the  skilled 


NICARAGUA   CANAL.  237 

and  unskilled  labor  you  want,  and  establishing  down  there  machine 
shops,  forges,  repair  shops,  and  maintaining  your  plant  while  you  have 
got  it — the  country  has  none;  the  delivery  of  all  your  supplies  while 
the  work  is  in  progress — your  food  suppHes,  your  clothing  supplies,  your 
supplies  of  coal,  in  particular — all  have  to  be  delivered  on  the  site  of  the 
work.  In  other  words,  the  plant,  all  materials,  all  service  have  got  to 
be  taken,  if  you  please,  away  from  here  and  delivered  there,  and  there- 
after maintained.  Furthermore,  inasmuch  as  there  is  no  reserve  in  that 
country  of  skilled  or  other  labor  that  you  can  use,  you  have  got  to  pro- 
vide what  in  this  country  would  be  a  very  large  excess  of  that  labor, 
or  otherwise  you  will  be  paralyzed.  If  one  engineer  in  Chicago  can 
run  the  dredging,  it  will  take  two  down  there,  because  you  can  not  tele- 
phone up  to  Chicago  and  have  another  one  sent  down  if  this  man  is 
suddenly  stricken  with  illness;  so  you  have  got  to  have  something  over. 
Those  are  the  items  which  enter  into  the  cost.  We  have  said  nothing 
about  the  nature  of  the  work,  which,  of  course,  is  very  important • 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  In  taking  up  the  subject  of  dredging 

Colonel  Ludlow  (continuing).  I  was  going  to  state  one  more  element 
of  cost;  and, that  is,  taking  the  plant  so  great  a  distance  from  home  and 
using  it  ibr  years  practically  means  to  charge  the  whole  value  of  the 
plant  into  the  cost  of  the  work. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Now,  in  considering  the  subject  of  dredging,  your 
board  took  up  the  different  elements,  I  suppose,  of  the  harbor  at  Brito 
and  perhaps  at  Grey  town? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  And  the  lake  and  the  river? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  And  along  those  places  where  the  embankment 
was — wherever  dredging  was  required,  if  it  was  required? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  There  is  no  other  dredging  in  there.  That  would 
be  done  in  the  dry. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Are  you  able  at  this  time  to  segregate  those  items 
for  Greytowu,  Brito,  and  toward  the  first  lock,  the  river,  and  the  lake, 
and  give  us  your  estimate  upon  those  different  items'? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes;  we  tried  to  get  some  information  of  this  kind 
as  exhibits — not  a  finality,  if  you  please,  but  as  a  basis  for  our  judgment 
in  making  unit  prices  for  this  work  in  the  different  portions  of  the  proj- 
ect. That  we  did,  and  I  will,  if  you  please,  simply  read  the  statements 
I  have  here  dictated  from  data  which  we  regarded  as  regulating,  con- 
trolling, and  guiding  our  judgment  in  the  formation  of  the  unit  prices 
there. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Where  do  you  mention — at  what  portion  of  the 
dredging? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  think,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  we  commenced — I  think 
locally — we  commenced  at  Brito  or  Greytown. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Will  you  just  take  up  each  item  by  itself? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  First  there  are  general  considerations  which  apply 
to  the  whole  work. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Is  not  that  a  portion  of  the  report  [referring  to 
paper  in  Colonel  Ludlow's  hand]  ? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  This?  Oh,  no;  we  spent  all  day  yesterday  going 
over  this  together.  I  do  not  know  what  the  District  laws  are  in  regard 
to  working  on  Sunday,  but 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Can  you  state  at  the  outset  what  the  dredging  will 
cost  at  Greytown  ? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  can  tell  you  about  what  we  calculate  it  will 


238  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

cost.  It  is  about  40  cents  per  cubic  yard  at  the  entrance,  20  cents 
inside,  making  an  average  price  of  25  cents  per  cubic  yard. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  At  Brito,  wbat  was  your  price  for  dredging? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  This  dredging,  25  cents — the  same  thiug. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  And  in  the  lake? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  is  20,  if  I  remember,  and  the  river  is  30  cents 
per  cubic  yard. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Now,  from  Greytown  Harbor  up  to  Lock  No.  1 "? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  threw  that,  too,  into  the  25-cent  price,  if  I 
remember. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  When  you  figure  it  25  cents  per  cubic  yard  for 
dredging  Greytown  Harbor,  what  profit  did  you  include? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  About  20  per  cent  to  the  contractor, 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Not  to  exceed  that? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  No;  I  think  not.  We  estimated  that  is  what  he 
would  demand  or  expect. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Did  you  calculate  any  margin  for  a  contractor  or 
construction  company 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  did  not  get  that. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Did  you  calculate  any  margin  for  a  contractor  or 
construction  company  ? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  have  answered  that;  that  we  allowed  a  margin  of 
20  per  cent  as  contractor's  profit,  as  an  engineer  would  call  it.  I  do  not 
know  who  would  get  it,  a  contractor  or  his  associated  interests,  what- 
ever they  were. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Now,  you  said  at  Greytown  you  estimated  the  dredg- 
ing at  25  cents.  Are  you  aware  of  what  it  is  costing  the  Government 
a  day  per  cubic  yard  to  do  similar  work  at  the  Galveston  jetties  with  a 
modern  plant? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  No;  I  have  not  those  figures  of  Galveston  in  my 
mind. 

Mr.  Stewart.  Has  your  experience  abroad  since  you  helped  to  pre- 
pare this  report  and  your  examination  of  foreign  work  affected  your 
judgment  as  to  the  figures  in  this  matter  at  all? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  has  somewhat. 

Mr.  Stewart.  Do  your  colleagues  agree  with  you? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  That  is  my  own  judgment,  and  I  have  not  had  an 
opportunity  to  confer  with  them.  It  has  not  modified  my  judgment  in 
the  direction  of  diminishing  our  prices;  it  is  the  other  way. 

Mr.liooLiTTLE.  How  would  this  dredging  work  differ  so  far  as  the 
removal  of  the  material  is  concerned  from  that  at  Galveston  ? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  am  really  not  familiar  with  the  particulars  at 
Galveston. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  But  I  am  speaking  of  the  material  now. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  No;  it  is  all  sand  at  Galveston,  I  judge,  and  the 
harbor  at  Brito  and  Greytown  is  pretty  much  sand  and  mud  and  is 
easily  handled — not  bad  material  to  handle.  I  think  at  Galveston  it  is 
sand,  if  I  remember  the  circumstances,  but  I  do  not  remember  the  con- 
tract specifications. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Now  then,  if  it  does  not  cost  the  Government  more 
than  8  cents  per  cubic  yard  at  Galveston,  why  should  the  charge  of  25 
cents  be  made  per  cubic  yard  at  Nicaragua? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Well,  the  contractor  will  charge  more  to  go  to 
Nicaragua,  will  he  not? 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Well,  I  am  asking  you  why  it  should  cost  25  cents 
at  Nicaragua  and  only  7  or  8  cents  at  Galveston, 


NICARAGUA   CANAL.  239 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Suppo.se  we  clear  the  subject  up 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  I  would  like  to  have  that  done. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  By  reading  these  notes  we  have  here.  The  gen- 
eral considerations,  you  understand,  cover  all  this,  and  then  the  particu- 
lar considerations  affect  particular  portions  of  the  work- 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  But  if  it  only  costs  7  cents  at  Galveston,  would 
you  as  an  engineer  say  it  would  actually,  under  careful  management, 
Avith  modern  methods,  cost  25  cents  at  Nicaragua? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  think  so,  or  we  would  not  have  estimated  it  at 
that. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLB.  Bid  you  know  at  the  time  it  was  only  costing  7 
cents  in  the  United  States'? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  was  costing  about  7  cents  at  Mobile,  an  illus- 
tration which  we  embody  in  our  report.  We  found  the  physical  condi- 
tions of  the  work  at  Mobile  Bay  are  quite  similar  and  the  nearest  we 
can  find  in  the  United  States  to  the  work  at  Nicaragua,  and  if  you 
choose  to  read  the  report  you  will  find  we  refer  to  it.  I  do  not  know 
what  the  Galveston  conditions  are.  I  do  not  know  what  the  price  is  at 
Mobile,  except  it  is  about  7  cents.  I  mean,  I  do  not  know  the  particu- 
lars which  enter  into  that  price  there. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  The  double  of  those  figures  would  be  14  cents, 
while  in  Nicaragua,  in  your  estimate,  you  run  it  uj)  to  25  cents. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes;  we  do. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  I  wish  you  would  state  to  the  committee  what  ele- 
ments there  are  that  would  increase  the  amount  over  the  amount  paid 
in  the  United  States  for  the  same  sort  of  work  of  from  7  cents  to  25 
cents. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  All  right.  In  a  general  way  I  have  answered  that 
question,  part  of  it,  a  very  important  part  of  it.  A  much  greater  cost 
of  work  down  there  in  every  respect 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Doubling  would  not  make  it. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  You  can  double  it  right  off  if  you  choose,  because 
we  regard  that  in  a  general  way  as  a  fair  com])arison  between  Nicaragua 
work  and  United  States  work.  Then  there  is  the  sinking  of  the  plant 
in  the  job,  which  might  have  something  to  do  with  it. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  The  same  thing  would  be  done  at  Galveston — the 
plant  would  be  sunk  in  the  job? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  No. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE,  With  the  great  work  there.  Has  there  not  been 
many  a  plant  sunk  in  the  job  and  charged  up  to  it? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  There  might  if 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  If  the  machinery  is  worn  out  entirely? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  There  might  be. 

Mr.  Stewart.  If  a  responsible  contractor  in  this  country  should 
undertake  to  carry  through  this  project  at  a  given  lirice,  would  that 
alter  your  judgment  as  to  the  feasibility  of  carrying  through  that  at  a 
certain  price?  I  am  referring  to  a  man  who  understands  the  building 
of  canals,  etc. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  suppose  if  he  understood  the  local  conditions 
and  had  made  a  full  investigation  and  had  undertaken  to  do  the  work, 
with  a  full  knowledge  of  the  nature  of  the  enterprise,  it  would  be  a 
valuable  guide,  and  it  was  that  kind  of  information  we  were  in  search 
of  last  summer. 

Mr.  Stewart.  Does  not  Mr.  Treat  understand  those  conditions? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  He  is  a  very  able  and  intelligent  contractor,  but  he 
is  not  a  safe  person  to  call  on  in  this  respect. 


240  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Why! 

Colouel  Ludlow.  For  the  reason  that  his  proposition  does  not  embrace 
this  work. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Suppose  it  actually  does  embrace  this  work? 

Colouel  Ludlow.  Then  it  would  be  an  important  consideration. 

Mr.  Stewart.  I  understand  he  does  embrace  the  whole  project.  Is 
that  so,  Mr.  Miller? 

Colouel  Ludlow.  He  had  not  when  we  talked  with  him  last  summer. 
Mr.  Treat  was  good  enough  to  come  and  see  us.  He  was  a  very  impor- 
tant person  with  whom  we  wanted  to  confer,  and  he  was  good  euough 
to  come  to  the  otBce  and  confer  with  us  and  to  furnish  us  with  a  copyof 
the  proposition  he  made  to  the  canal  company.  It  was  after  we  were 
back  in  ISTew  York,  in  August  or  September  of  last  summer,  and  at  that 
time  his  proposition  related  exclusively  to  the  western  division,  and  he 
stated  he  refused  to  have  anything  to  do  with  the  eastern  division. 

Mr.  Stewart.  Just  read  his  letter,  if  you  please  ? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  have  no  hesitation  in  retuling  this  letter.  I  read 
it  under  the  reservation  that  he  may  have  made  another  i)roposition 
of  which  we  have  no  knowledge.  This  letter  is  dated  July  2, 181)5.  If 
there  is  a  subsequent  proposition,  of  course  this  is  modilied,  and  I  do 
not  know  anything  about  that  and  have  not  heard  of  it.  This  letter 
is  addressed  to  John  R.  Bartlett 

Mr.  Corliss.  Is  there  any  necessity  of  occupying  time  in  reading 
that  letter! 

Mr.  Patterson.  I  prefer  to  have  it  read. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  ought  more  properly  to  have  been  called  for 
from  the  recipients  of  the  letter  and  not  from  our  side.  However,  we 
feel  entirely  authorized  by  Mr.  Treat  to  use  this  letter.  He  talked  to 
us  freely  on  the  subject,  and  we  had  a  most  interesting  talk  with  him, 
and  he  had  no  hesitation  in  leaving  with  me  a  copy  of  this  letter,  and 
said  he  had  no  hesitation  in  our  having  it.  It  was  a  very  important 
contribution  to  the  information  on  the  subject. 

Mr.  Stewart.  That  can  not  be  a  copy  of  the  letter  addressed  to  Mr. 
Warner  Miller! 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  do  not  know  anything  about  a  letter  addressed 
to  Mr.  Warner  Miller.  This  is  addressed  to  the  president  of  the  canal 
company  and  was  handed  in  by  Mr.  Treat  himself  to  us. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  I  do  not  know  that  it  is  any  value  one  way  or 
another. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Let  us  have  the  letter,  please;  I  prefer  to  have  the 
letter  read. 

Copy. 

HOULTON,  Me.,  July  2,  1895. 

Dear  Sir:  Referring  toonr  interview  of  the  17th  of  .June,  and  in  response  to  your 
invitation,  I  herewith  below  snbinit  to  you  the  following  bid: 

I  propose  to  build  for  your  company  the  western  division  of  the  Nicaragua  Canal, 
from  Lake  Nicaragua  to  the  Pacihc  Ocean,  including  any  work  east  of  the  shore  of 
the  lake  and  except  the  dredging,  on  the  following  terms  and  conditions: 

I  will  in  general  accept  the  prices  for  units  of  measurement  as  given  in  the  esti- 
mates of  A.  G.  Menocal,  esq.,  chief  engineer,  under  date  of  January  31,  1889,  and 
revised  January  31, 1890,  published  on  pages  144, 145,  and  146  of  Report  No.  331,  made 
to  the  Fifty-third  United  States  Congress,  at  its  second  session,  by  Senator  Morgan, 
of  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Relations,  subject,  however,  to  the  following  condi- 
tions and  amendments: 

All  necessary  right  of  way  to  be  furnished  free  to  the  constructor  as  required  by  him. 

SuiKcient  land  for  a  large  camp,  say  1  mile  square,  on  the  west  sliore  of  Lake 
Nicaragua,  at  the  canal  entrance,  to  be  furnished  free  to  the  contractor  during  the 
ooutinuance  of  work. 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  241 

All  rock,  gravel,  and  sand  necessary  for  construction  purposes,  and  not  obtainable 
from  canal  line  excavation,  to  be  furnished  in  place  within  reasonable  distances. 

There  to  be  only  two  classifications  in  canal  line  excavation — namely,  earth  and 
rock. 

The  rock  classification  to  include  all  that  is  not  earth.  In  excavating  for  locks, 
earth  and  rock  excavation  under  water  shall  be  so  classified  and  estimated,  and  a 
fair  allowance  made  for  cost  of  pumping,  but  not  to  exceed  Mr.  Menocal's  estimate 
of  $100,000. 

All  measurements  of  earth  and  rock  and  earth  and  rock  under  water  to  be  made 
in  excavation. 

Not  less  than  2,000,000  cubic  yards  of  material  to  be  put  into  the  dam  at  La  Flor. 
This  to  be  rock  and  earth  in  the  proportions  which  may  bo  directed  by  the  engi- 
neer in  charge,  but  all  to  be  estimated  and  paid  for  at  one  and  the  same  price. 

Forty  miles  of  standard  gauge  railway,  with  steel  rails  of  at  least  60  pounds  per 
yard,  to  be  paid  for  by  the  company,  at  $25,000  per  mile. 

All  addition  trackage  and  sidings  to  be  furnished  by  the  contractor  at  his  expense. 

All  equipment  for  railway  to  be  furnished  by  contractor. 

The  line  and  equipment  to  be  maintained  by  contractor. 

On  completion  of  the  work  the  40  miles  paid  for  by  the  company  to  belong  to  the' 
company ;  the  remainder  of  track  and  equipment  to  belong  to  the  contractor.  The 
contractor  to  have  entire  control  and  operation  of  road  during  continuance  of 
contract. 

The  contractor  to  relieve  the  company  of  all  responsibility  and  cost  for  medical 
attendance  and  hospital  services. 

The  company  to  provide  all  necessary  police,  but  the  police  to  be  under  the  orders 
of  contractor,  and  payment  to  them  to  be  made  through  the  contractor. 

Contractor  to  agree  not  to  interfere  with  laborers  of  other  contractors  on  the  canal, 
but  otherwise  to  be  free  to  hire  and  import  laborers,  except  as  limited  by  canal 
concessions. 

All  payment  to  contractor  to  be  estimated  and  made  in  gold,  or  its  equivalent, 
except  as  otherwise  provided  below. 

All  materials  of  construction  for  the  La  Flor  Dam,  and  for  the  locks  and  break- 
water, and  for  that  part  of  the  railroad  to  be  estimated  and  paid  for  by  the  company, 
to  be  paid  for  to  the  contractor  by  the  company  without  reserve. 

All  proper  freight  bills  on  said  materials  to  be  estimated  and  paid  to  the  contractor 
by  the  company  without  reserve. 

The  payment  for  such  materials  and  freight  bills  for  each  month  to  be  made  in  the 
next  following  estimate. 

Proper  invoices,  showing  the  cost  of  such  materials,  shall  be  duly  furnished  by  the 
contractor. 

Payment  by  the  company  to  the  contractor  to  be  made  each  month  for  the  work 
done,  and  materials  furnished,  and  freights  paid  during  the  preceding  month. 

Payment  to  the  contractor  to  be  made  either  at  the  contractor's  office  in  Nicara- 
gua, or  at  company's  office  in  New  York  City,  as  he  may  elect;  but  he  must  give 
notice  sometime  during  the  month  preceding  the  payment  at  which  place  he  will 
receive  the  money. 

The  company  to  retain  10  per  cent  of  estimates  for  work  done  in  Nicaragua 
until  the  sums  so  retained  amount  to  $1,000,000,  which  shall  be  included  and  paid 
upon  the  final  completion  of  the  work  as  a  part  of  the  final  estimate. 

The  contract  for  dredging  on  the  Pacific  end  of  canal  to  be  so  arranged  that  there 
shall  be  no  interference  of  work  or  forces  of  the  contractor  for  dredging  with  the 
work  or  forces  of  the  undersigned,  and  to  that  end  the  undersigned  ia  to  be  called  in 
conference  before  a  contract  for  said  dredging  shall  be  made. 

The  contractor  to  locate  railroad  subject  to  approval  of  company  engineers. 

Contractor  to  provide  all  camp  buildings,  togetherwith  water  supply  and  sanitary 
appliances  for  camp,  at  his  own  expense. 

The  company  to  see  that  all  conditions  of  canal  concessions  are  complied  with  by 
the  Nicaraguan  Government,  so  far  as  the  contractor's  interests  may  require. 

If  the  contractor  finds  it  necessary  to  remove  the  bar  at  the  mouth  of  the  Rio 
Grande  River,  in  order  to  discharge  from  vessels  supplies  or  materials  before  dredging 
is  done  by  the  company,  then  the  company  shall  pay  the  contractor  for  the  same  at 
prices  for  dredging  as  given  in  Mr.  Menocal's  published  estimate  referred  to  above. 

Prices  to  be  changed  from  Mr.  Menocal's  estimates  as  follows :  All  grubbing  and 
clearing  to  be  $100  per  acre,  instead  of  $50  per  acre.  All  earth  and  rock  put  into  the 
La  Flor  Dam,  50  cents  per  cubic  yard,  instead  of  20  cents  per  cubic  yard.  Earth 
excavation  under  water  in  locks,  $2  per  cubic  yard.  Rock  excavation  under  water, 
$4  per  cubic  yard. 

Lock  gates  and  "guard  gate"  in  divide  cut,  all  machinery  and  buildings,  crib 
piers,  and  swing  bridges  to  be  subject  to  arrangement  between  the  company  and  the 
contractor  as  to  plan  and  cost. 

N  C 16 


n 


p 


242  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

If  agreement  is  not  reached  between  tbcm,  then  the  contractor  not  to  furnish  them. 

Outer  limit  of  spoil  banks  not  to  be  more  than  500  feet  from  the  edge  of  canal,  but 
all  spoil  banks  to  be  left  in  reasonably  regular  form,  so  as  not  to  obstruct  perfect 
freedom  in  the  use  of  the  canal,  and  so  as  not  to  endanger  permanency  of  any  part 
of  the  canal  or  structures  pertaining  thereto. 

No  greater  proportion  of  cement  to  he  required  in  concrete  than  that  required  in 
the  locks  of  the  Sault  Ste.  Marie  Canal. 

The  contractor  to  take  one-half  his  pay  in  first-mortgage  bonds  of  the  Maritime 
Canal  Company  of  Nicaragua,  at  the  lowest  price  at  which  they  may  he  sold  to 
bankers  or  others  by  the  Northern  Finance  Company,  at  any  time  during  the  con- 
tinuance of  this  contract,  and  the  bonds  to  carry  with  them  their  pro  rata  proportion 
of  stock. 

This  bid  not  to  be  binding  unless  the  company  makes  contracts  with  responsible 
parties  on  the  same  terms  and  conditions  as  to  receiving  part  i)ay  in  bonds  for  the 
completion  of  the  entire  canal. 

All  work  to  be  done  under  the  direction  and  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  company's 
engineers. 

Very  truly,  yours,  C.  P.  Treat. 

John  R.  Bartlett,  Esq., 

President  Nicaragua  Company,  No,  2  Wall  Street,  New  York  City. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  These  prices,  you  will  observe,  are  prices  which  at 
that  time  were  the  only  ones  known  to  the  pirblic,  namely,  the  prices 
of  the  report  of  1890,  which  have  been  very  materially  modified  and 
reduced  in  the  estimates  prepared  by  the  company  last  summer  at  our 
request  and  which  are  printed  for  the  first  time  in  the  report  of  the 
board.  Mr.  Treat  had  no  knowledge  of  these  revised  prices.  His 
proposition  was  based  on  1890  prices.  We  asked  Mr.  Treat  if  he  would 
be  kind  enough  to  make  a  proposition  of  the  same  kind  in  regard  to 
the  eastern  division  as  well,  because  the  proposition  threw  much  light 
on  the  subject,  and  that  he  declined  to  do. 

Mr.  Sherman.  I  understand  he  declined  to  do  that  with  the 
company? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  do  not  know  what  he  declined  to  do  with  the 
company.  I  understand  what  he  told  us.  Of  course  we  were  not  pry- 
ing into  other  people's  business,  but  what  he  said  to  us  was  he  refused 
to  have  anything  to  do  with  the  eastern  division  and  did  not  care  to 
take  it. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Do  you  know  what  position  Mr.  Bartlett  occupied 
at  the  time? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  is  addressed  to  him  as  president  of  the  Nicar- 
agua Company.  I  do  not  know  just  what  the  proper  designation  would 
be;  I  think  he  was  acting  in  charge  of  the  canal  company's  office  in 
New  York.  At  any  rate,  the  letter  is  addressed  to  him,  and  he  was 
recognized  as  the  person  to  make  that  to  by  Mr.  Treat. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  I  do  not  think  I  got  any  answer  to  the  last  ques- 
tion I  asked  you,  and  that  is  what  elements  enter  into  your  estimate 
when  you  raised  the  cost  of  dredging  of  these  harbors  from  7  cents,  the 
price  paid  in  the  United  States,  to  25  cents  down  there? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  answered  it  in  part. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  I  should  like  to  have  an  answer  to  that. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  gave  several  very  important  elements  which 
would  enter  into  the  increased  cost  down  there,  and  with  your  perjnis- 
sion  I  will  go  on  and  read  this  memorandum. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  I  would  rather  for  you  not  to  do  that.  1  would 
rather  have  an  answer  to  that  question  in  a  concrete  way. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Well,  I  have  done  it. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  Will  you  repeat  it,  then? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Very  well.  Item  1,  taking  the  plant  down  there 
with  the  expense  of  transporting  all  the  plant,  and  the  expense  of 


NICARAGUA   CANAL.  243 

engaging  your  service  to  go  to  the  country  and  remain,  the  expense  of 
having  a  hirger  force  with  you  than  you  woukl  use  here  in  the  United 
States,  the  additional  compensation  to  be  paid  men  for  leaving  their 
homes  and  going  there — it  is  not  to  be  considered  that  you  could  get 
them  for  the  same  wages — the  increased  expense  of  every  item  of  liv- 
ing in  that  country  by  reason  of  the  fact  that  your  supplies  must  be 
transported  from  home  and  delivered  there — your  coal,  your  food,  your 
clothing,  your  materials,  and  everything  that  you  use  in  connection 
with  that  work — the  necessity  for  creating,  since  they  do  not  exist,  all 
the  shop  and  other  facilities  which  you  would  need  for  the  repair  and 
maintenance  of  your  plant.  Those  are  the  items  which  enter  into  the 
cost  of  work  and  for  which  the  contractor  will  charge.  Further,  there 
is  the  abandonment  of  his  plant  on  the  completion  of  the  work,  or,  in 
lieu  thereof,  transportation  back  again  to  the  United  States.  The 
diminished  value  of  labor  in  the  tropics,  a  man's  physical  and  mental 
inability  to  do  as  much  work  in  that  climate  as  he  will  do  at  home — that 
is  to  be  charged  for. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Do  you  think  that  would  furnish  any  considerable 
item  in  the  last  consideration  you  have  mentioned  in  the  work  of  these 
suction  dredges  at  Greytown? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Oh,  yes;  there  is  no  question  about  it. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Now,  besides  the  erection  of  shops  for  repairs,  keep- 
ing up  the  eflSciency  of  the  plant,  and  the  returning  of  the  dredge  in 
case  it  was  desirable  to  return  it  to  the  United  States  on  the  completion 
of  the  work,  have  you  mentioned  any  items  that  would  vary  the  expense 
down  there  from  the  expense  in  the  United  States?  For  instance,  at 
Galveston  the  dredges  are  transported  there,  and  on  the  Mississippi 
they  are  transported  there,  and  w^heu  they  are  at  work  on  the  Puget 
Sound  they  are  transported,  say  from  San  Francisco,  as  the  Bower's 
dredger  was.  They  are  not  unusual  instances  in  carrying  on  this  work 
even  where  only  7  cents  per  yard  is  charged.    Is  not  that  true? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  do  not  understand  that  has  anything  to  do  with 
the  comparison  of  work  at  7  cents  per  cubic  yard  at  Mobile,  where  they 
have  been  engaged  there  for  the  last  ten  or  fifteen  years 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  I  understand  dredges  are  brought  from  San  Diego, 
Cal.,  to  Puget  Sound,  a  distance  nearly  as  great  as  to  Brito,  and  a  dis- 
tance greater  than  it  would  be  from  New  Orleans  over  to  Greytown,  for 
the  work  there,  and  then  the  material  is  handled  at  8  cents  per  cubic 
yard.  That  would  not  be  very  different  from  the  conditions  to  be  nec- 
essarily complied  with  in  getting  a  dredger  at  work  at  Greytown? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  For  that  one  item,  perhaps  not;  but  these  are  aU 
items  which  enter  into  the  cost,  and  if  the  contractor  is  going  to  take  a 
plant  from  San  Francisco  to  the  Columbia  River  to  do  a  job  and  dredge, 
whatever  his  price  would  be,  the  unit  price  would  include  the  cost  of 
getting  the  dredge  there,  would  it  not? 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Doubtless;  but  that  would  not  make  a  difference  of 
between  7  cents  and  25  cents  ? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  You  can  not  make  him  pay  the  cost  of  the  job.  If 
you  hire  him,  you  are  going  to  pay  for  it,  no  matter  how  you  figure  it 
out.  You  understand,  Mr.  Doolittle,  that  the  comparison  you  make 
with  the  Mobile  dredge  of  7  or  8  cents  should  be  made  with  the  20- 
cent  price  which,  in  the  judgment  of  the  board,  applies  to  the  interior 
work. 

Mr.  Stewart.  Would  not  the  cheapness  of  the  labor  compensate  for 
the  additional  cost  of  the  plant? 

Colonel  Ludlow.   We  thrashed  that  out  pretty  well.    The  board 


244  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

substantially  believes  that  the  cost  of  a  given  piece  of  work  in  Nicar- 
agua, taking  it  all  around,  as  compared  with  a  given  piece  of  similar 
work  in  the  United  States,  is  just  about  double. 

Mr.  Sherman.  May  I  ask  you  right  there — you  have  enumerated 
certain  elements  which  have  entered  into  the  increased  cost  in  relation 
to  dredging — do  you  know  anything  outside  of  the  cost  of  erecting 
shops  for  the  XHirpose  of  making  any  repairs  and  the  transportation  of 
the  dredges  back  again  to  the  United  States;  do  you  know  any  other 
elements  than  those  which  do  not  apply  to  every  other  part  of  this 
work  than  the  dredging? 

Colonel  LrDLOW.  I  think  it  applies  to  every  part  of  the  work. 

Mr.  Sherman.  Except  those  two  items,  every  item  you  mention 
would  apply  to  everything  else  as  well  as  dredging? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  They  are  generally  applicable. 

Mr.  Sherman.  And  I  understand  you  to  say  that  dredging  costs 
four  times  as  much  as  in  the  United  States,  and  the  general  work  only 
twice  as  much? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  do  not  say  the  dredging  costs  four  times  as 
much;  avc  say  it  costs  double. 

Mr.  Sherman.  But  you  estimate  25  cents,  while  at  Mobile  it  is 
dredged  at  7  cents,  which  is  about  four  times  as  much? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  is  very  easy  to  make  a  mistake.  We  stated  at 
the  outset  that  the  price  of  25  cents  was  an  average  price  only.  We 
estimate,  of  course,  a  very  considerable  increase  for  necessary  dredg- 
ing to  be  done  at  the  entrance  of  the  harbor,  where  the  dredge  would 
be  exposed  to  the  action  of  the  sea  and  where  frequently  it  Avill  be 
interrupted,  and  we  regard  that  work  as  much  more  costly,  and  put  it 
at  40  cents  per  cubic  yard,  whereas  we  estimate  the  interior  work  to  be 
done  at  20  cents  a  yard  and  not  at  25  cents  a  yard.  Twenty-five  cents 
makes  the  average  i)rice  for  the  whole. 

Mr.  Sherman.  I  understand  you. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  But  the  work  that  you  are  comparing  at  7  and  8 
cents  should  be  with  the  20-cent  interior  work  not  exposed  to  the  sea. 

Mr.  Sherman.  But  20  cents  is  more  than  twice  7? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  is  two  and  a  half  times. 

Mr.  Sherman.  It  is  just  as  near  three  times  7  as  you  can  get? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Now,  if  you  please,  estimating  the  rough  cost  of 
the  Nicaragua  dredging  as  double,  owing  to  the  diminished  value  of 
labor  and  other  considerations,  you  are  working  in  a  country  where 
you  have  got  to  make  your  shops,  create  facilities,  which  you  do  not 
have  to  do  at  Galveston. 

Mr.  Sherman.  Would  that  add  50  per  cent  more? 

Colojiel  LuDi,ow.  It  would  add  something. 

Mr.  Sherman.  Would  it  add  50  i)er  cent? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  The  dredging  will  cost  20  cents  there.  The  com- 
pany's dredging  costs  11  cents,  on  their  own  statement,  which  I  do  not 
in  the  least  dispute. 

Mr.  Sherman.  It  was  made  when  dredging  cost  more  than  it  does 
to-day  ? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  That  is  the  absolute  net  cost  with  very  powerful 
dredges  and  the  mere  charges  for  daily  maintenance,  with  no  sinking 
fund,  no  depreciation  charge,  and  no  interest  charge. 

Mr.  Patterson.  And  no  cost  charge  of  the  dredging  machine? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  And  nothing  charged  to  the  cost  of  the  plant  at 
all,  and  no  profit.  That  was  absolutely  the  net  cost  of  the  dredging 
day  by  day  until  they  piled  out  a  certain  mass  of  material,  including 


NICARAGUA   CANAL.  245 

repairs  to  the  dredges  merely  to  keep  them  going  for  the  time  being. 
My  colleague  is  good  enough  to  remind  me  in  connection  with  this  11- 
cent  work  that  the  material  was  simply  moved  a  short  distance,  and  it 
would  have  to  be  moved  again. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  You  said  in  your  statement  here  you  did  not  think 
with  the  methods  now  in  use  such  dredges  as  those  then  used  by  the 
company  could  be  advantageously  used  down  there;  that  more  modern 
dredges  could  be  used.  Now,  witli  the  modern  methods,  do  you  not 
think  that  work  could  be  accomplished  at  less  expense? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  What  are  modern  methods"? 

Mr.  DooLTTTLE.  An  engineer  of  your  experience  should  know 

('olonel  Ludlow.  I  do  know. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE  (continuing).  Better  than  I  do. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  But  when  you  use  the  phrase  I  desire  to  know 
what  interpretation  I  should  put  upon  it. 

]\[r.  DOOLITTLE.  I  am  simply  quoting  what  you  said. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  did  not  say  anything  about  modern  methods. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  But  you  said  those  dredges  can  not  be  advanta- 
geously used. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  And  I  do  not  think  they  can.  I  guess  they  were 
pretty  good  dredges  in  their  day  and  they  did  an  immense  amount  of 
work.     They  built  a  portion  of  the  Panama  Canal. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Do  you  not  think  the  expense  would  be  much  les- 
sened by  using  more  improved  machinery  for  the  handling  of  the  mate- 
rial? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Improved  machinery  always  diminishes  the  cost, 
or  should  do  so. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Will  you  kindly  answer  that  question? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  do  not  know  about  putting  Mr.  Bate's  dredge 
at  work  on  that  harbor;  I  would  rather  have  it  work  and  see  what  the 
actual  net  final  result  will  be  first. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  You  know  these  machines  have  been  working  for 
years  on  the  Pacific? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  do  not  know  that.  I  think  it  is  a  brand  new  and 
very  superior  element. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Of  course  it  is  larger,  but  the  same  principle  has 
been  used. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Oh,  the  i^rinciple  of  the  hydraulic  dredge? 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  I  mean  of  that  character  of  hydraulic  dredge? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  was  the  first  person  in  this  country  to  put  a 
hydraulic  dredge  in  service  pumping  on  an  ocean-bar  channel. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  I  asked  you  a  question  and  I  have  not  an  answer 
to  it. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  What  is  it? 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Whether  by  using  this  improved  machinery  that 
the  cost  would  not  be  very  much  decreased  in  the  handling  of  this 
material? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Below  what? 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Below  your  estimate. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  do  not  believe  it  would  be  safe  to  put  it  below 
our  estimate. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Below  what  it  cost  the  company  with  their  dredges? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  ISTo,  sir;  that  11  cents  price  leaves  out  of  considera- 
tion a  great  many  things. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  I  mean  reckoning  in  all  those  elements? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Reckoning  in  all  those  elements,  we  think  that 
dredging  in  there  is  going  to  cost  20  cents  i)er  cubic  yard  in  gold. 


246  NICARAGUA   CANAL. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Do  you  not  believe,  as  an  engineer,  the  cost  would 
be  very  much  decreased  by  making  use  of  the  best  machinery  which  is 
used  for  this  purpose  to-day? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Assuming  that  you  use  the  most  perfect  machinery 
that  exists  to-day,  I  do  not  think  it  would  be  safe  to  estimate  the  cost 
of  that  dredging  down  ther&  at  less  than  20  cents. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  If  contractors  who  are  reliable  men  stood  ready  to 
make  a  contract  to  remove  that  material  at  Greytown  and  on  up  the  line 
of  the  canal  at  from  8  to  9  cents  per  cubic  yard,  would  not  that  change 
your  opinion  in  regard  to  the  exi)ense  of  that  work*? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  might,  after  1  had  talked  with  them,  and  knew 
what  they  were  talking  about,  but  I  would  like  to  see  their  proposition 
first  in  writing;  I  do  not  want  it  orally. 

Mr.  Stewart.  Is  this  ojuniou  confirmed  or  modified  by  the  letter  of 
Mr.  Treat  you  read  a  short  while  ago,  or  from  actual  computations'? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  The  letter  we  had  last  summer? 

Mr.  Stewart.  Did  that  change  your  opinion  in  regard  to  the  cost  or 
control  your  opinion  in  any  way? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  guided  our  opinion  a  little. 

Mr.  Stewart.  Your  opinion  is  not  formed  from  actual  calculations, 
but  from  Mr.  Treat's  judgment? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  He  made  no  proposition  about  this  dredging  at  all. 
He  refused  to  have  anything  to  do  with  the  dredging. 

Mr.  Stewart.  That  does  not  include  the  dredging? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Not  on  the  western  division,  and  he  refused  to  go 
further.     His  proposition  refused  to  do  dredging  distinctly  in  terms. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Do  you  know  the  actual  cost  per  cubic  yard  that  a 
dredge  can  be  obtained  to  handle  all  the  sand  in  Greytown  harbor  and 
canal  for? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  No. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  You  have  not  investigated  to  ascertain? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  got  all  the  information  we  could.  We  spent 
last  summer  investigating  that,  and  we  got  experienced  contractors  to 
give  us  their  estimate,  too.  All  we  could  get  hold  of  we  used.  We 
spent  three  months  in  the  most  extended  correspondence  and  investi- 
gation, from  9  o'clock  in  the  morning  until  6  in  the  afternoon,  and  then 
to  12  at  night. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Thatisnot  an  answer  to  my  question.  Do  you  know 
the  actual  cost  j^er  cubic  yard  that  a  dredge  will  handle  all  the  sand  in 
Greytown  harbor  and  canal  for? 

Mr.  Corliss.  Do  you  mean  the  dredge  itself? 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Not  at  all. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  There  is  a  whole  lot  of  stuff  in  here  which  if  you 
will  read  you  will  get  a  lot  of  information  from ;  valuable,  too. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  I  have  no  doubt  of  its  being  valuable. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  You  do  not  want  me  to  read  this? 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  I  do  not  want  to  take  up  time. 

Colonel  Ludlow  (reading): 

The  board  obtainfid  from  Mr.  E.  T.  Williams,  of  Duluth,  who  has  had  thirty  years' 
experience  in  dredging  and  has  employed  during  all  tliis  time  a  large  plant,  an 
expression  of  opinion  as  to  the  probalile  contract  price  for  dredging  at  Greytown  and 
Brito.     His  figures  were  25  to  30  cents  per  cubic  yard. 

Mr.  Williams's  address  is  Duluth,  if  you  want  to  investigate  that. 
Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Do  you  know  what  profit  he  estimated  for  himself 
in  that? 
Colonel  Ludlow.  Probably  the  contractor's  profit. 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  247 


Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  I  asked  you  if  lie- 


Colonel  Ludlow.  I  said  probably  the  contractor's  profit? 

Mr.  Patterson.  What  is  the  contractor's  profit? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  About  20  per  cent,  and  in  such  cases  where  he 
thought  unusual  expenses  might  be  incurred  he  would  stick  up  a  little 
more.  That  is  a  fair  profit.  Now  if  you  please  I  will  go  on  a  little 
further.  You  will  observe  that  IMr.  Williams  gives  the  figures  at  from 
25  to  30  cents  per  cubic  yard.  That  was  above  ours,  and  we  put  in 
what  we  thought  an  extremely  moderate  estimate  of  20  cents  per  cubic 
yard  for  the  work.     Kow  I  will  go  on  a  little  further. 

The  president  of  the  Atlantic  Dredging  Company  considered  tliat  20  centa  per 
cnbic  yard  wonld  be  the  lowest  safe  figure  for  the  shcdtered  harbors,  but  that  a 
larger  figure  than  this  should  be  used  for  canal  excavation. 

Kow,  that  is  the  kind  of  advice  we  were  getting. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE,  That  is  the  best  information  you  have  on  the  sub- 
ject of  the  cost  of  this  dredging,  then! 

Colonel  Ludlow.  What  I  have  given  and  our  own  judgment. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Go  on;  I  would  like  to  hear  some  more  of  that. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  There  is  a  good  deal  here,  and  it  is  really  very 
interesting.    I  can  read  it  over  very  rapidly. 

Mr.  Sherman.  Mr.  Doolittle  is  asking  a  series  of  questions  and 

Colonel  Ludlow.  You  are  asking  in  regard  to  the  cost  of  dredging, 
and  I  am  telling  you  what  we  believe  it  to  be  and  on  what  basis  we 
estimate  it. 

Mr.  Patterson.  With  all  due  respect  you  asked  this  gentleman  a 
question  and  he  was  simply  reading  the  data  which  entered  into  the 
formation  of  his  judgment,  and  I  think  it  is  entirely  proper  for  him  to 
read  all  that  data  which  entered  into  his  judgment. 

Mr.  Sherman.  So  far  as  pertaining  to  that  particular  question. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  No;  it  is  not  all  under  the  head  of  dredging. 

Mr.  Patterson.  I  do  not  think  he  ought  to  be  cut  oft",  and  I  call  for 
all  upon  the  subject. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  will  say  these  notes  were  prepared  yesterday. 

The  Chairman.  Complete  your  answer;  when  a  question  is  asked 
you  you  have  a  right  to  answer  it  in  your  own  way. 

Mr.  Patterson.  I  am  interested  in  finding  out  now  upon  what  he 
bases  his  judgment  as  to  the  cost  of  dredging,  and  now  whatever  data 
you  have  got  there  that  reflects  upon  that  question  we  desire  to  have 
laid  before  the  committee;  at  least  I  do. 

Mr.  Stewart.  But  there  is  something  else ;  you  also  want  to  know 
the  attitude  of  the  witness  toward  the  canal,  whether  the  witness  is 
hostile  to  the  project  or  not? 

Mr.  Patterson.  That  may  enter  the  question. 

Mr.  Stewart.  When  you  get  a  witness  upon  the  stand  you  want 
to 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Have  you  ever  heard  of  a  contractor  who  is  hostile 
to  a  proposed  big  job  of  work? 

Mr.  Stewart.  He  might  if  he  can  not  get  the  contract.    , 

Mr.  Doolittle.  I  want  to  know  what  he  makes  up  the  statement 
from. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  The  statement  will  speak  for  itself. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  From  letters  written  to  your  board? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  From  letters,  information,  data  supplied  by  each 
member  of  the  board,  contributing  jointly,  information  derived  from 
private  correspondence,  telegrams,  letters,  and  everything  that  we  could 
get  hold  of. 


248  NICARAGUA   CANAL. 

Mr.  Stewart.  Did  you  invite  tliese  estimates? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  sought  them — wrote  to  gentlemen  who  might 
know,  and  if  they  could  not  come  to  see  us  we  asked  them  to  write  us, 
so  that  we  have  a  very  extended  correspondence.  A  good  deal  of  it  is 
official  and  a  good  deal  of  it  verbal  by  interviews.  We  took  the  trouble 
to  record  all  they  told.  We  were  as  anxious  to  get  the  facts  as  anybody 
could  be  in  regard  to  information  given  by  responsible  contractors. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLB.  Of  course,  in  these  interviews  with  contractors  and 
letters  from  them  and  all  that  kind  of  thing,  I  suppose  you  did  not 
deem  the  subject  considered  by  them  as  it  would  have  been  if  the 
work  had  been  in  actual  progress  and  they  had  been  invited  to  make 
tenders  for  contract? 

Mr.  Patterson.  Let  us  get  down  to  the  main  question.  There  have 
been  a  great  number  of  questions  as  to  the  cost  of  dredging,  and  I  am 
anxious  for  Colonel  Ludlow  to  lay  before  the  committee  the  data  on 
which  he  forms  his  judgment. 

The  Chairman.  Colonel  Ludlow  has  been  informed  by  the  Chair  he 
should  be  protected  in  his  wish  to  answer  that  question.  If  you  desire 
to  answer  that  question  by  submitting  that  data,  you  can  do  so. 

Mr.  DoonTTLE.  But  at  the  same  time  I  want  to  ascertain  whether 
these  men  were  making  these  prices  as  they  would  make  them  if  they 
were  entering  into  a  contract  or  not? 

The  Chairman.  That  would  be  a  proper  line  of  inquiry  after  the 
Colonel  has  answered  this  question. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  No,  sir;  it  would  be  proper  before. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  will  state  this,  if  you  please,  so  as  to  give  what 
might  be  considered  the  local  atmosphere  of  our  inquiry.  We  were  three 
responsible  engineers  appointed  by  the  Government  to  make  an  inves- 
tigation of  a  very  important  subject.  We  do  not  believe  any  contractor 
or  any  other  man  came  in  with  any  misunderstanding  at  all  of  our  relation 
to  the  matter  further  than  that  we  wanted  to  get  the  most  accurate 
and  best  authenticated  information  we  could,  and  I  do  not  doubt  in  the 
least  these  gentlemen  with  whom  we  conferred  really  used  their  best 
judgment  in  furnishing  us  with  the  information.  They  could  not  have 
any  question  as  to  our  purpose  in  asking  and  they  had  no  other  motive 
in  giving  it. 

Furthermore,  I  will  say  in  regard  to  this  material  which  I  have  here, 
we  spent  a  good  deal  of  time  yesterday  in  going  over  the  large  mass  of 
minor  data,  and  it  was  prepared  at  the  exi)ress  request  of  Mr.  Doolittle, 
who  advised  me  that  that  would  be  the  nature  of  the  investigation  or 
inquiry  to-day,  and  requested  me  to  prepare  myself  for  it.  That,  of 
course,  includes  the  other  members  of  the  board,  and  we  have  been  in 
conference  upon  the  subject.    It  is  not  very  long,  really. 

Mr.  Sherman.  I  do  not  think  anybody  wants  to  shut  you  off.  Colonel 
Patterson  misunderstood  me,  and  I  thought  you  had  finished  with  that 
particular  line,  and  if  you  have  not  it  is  no  matter. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  will  read  as  rapidly  as  I  can,  if  you  please.  Of 
course  you  will  understand  this  was  hastily  thrown  together  and  there 
has  been  no  opportunity  to  revise  it  except  to  look  over  and  correct 
some  obvious  errors.     "Unit  prices"  is  the  heading  of  the  paper. 

Dredging:  The  cost  of  dredging  in  Bay  Lake  channel,  between  lakes  Superior 
and  Huron,  in  soft  material  (soft  clay  and  sand),  and  in  large  amounts,  averaged  in 
the  last  live  years  about  15  cents  per  cubic  yard. 

The  prices  entered  in  the  contracts  are  a])parently  lower,  because  payment  is  made 
at  half  rates  for  material  excavated  outside  the  cross  section,  if  not  more  than  2 
feet  of  excess  depth.  Dividing  the  total  amount  paid  under  the  contract  by  the 
total  number  of  cubic  yards  excavated  from  the  canal  prism,  a  quotient  of  15  cents 
per  cubic  yard  is  obtained. 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  249 

The  largest  bulk  coutract  for  drodiiing  so  far  placed  in  the  United  States,  was 
from  the  Delaware  River  at  Philadelphia,  where  the  unit  price  is  14.2  cents. 

While  the  hoard  was  preparing  its  report,  a  visit  was  made  to  Greenwich,  Conn., 
where  a  dredge  was  employed  in  dredging  nuul  and  soft  clay,  which  was  discharged, 
through  a  pipe  an  average  distance  of  a  quarter  of  a  mile,  the  contract  price  being 
20  cents  per  cubic  yard.     This  was  a  private  coutract. 

The  board  obtained  from  Mr.  E.  T.  Williams,  of  Duluth,  who  has  had  thirty  years' 
experience  in  dredging,  and  has  employed  during  all  this  time  a  large  plant,  an 
expression  of  opinion  as  to  the  probable  contract  price  for  dredging  at  Greytown 
and  Brito.     His  figures  were  25  to  30  cents  per  cubic  yard. 

The  president  of  the  American  Contract  and  Dredging  Company  ( ?)  considered 
that  20  cents  per  cubic  yard  would  lie  the  lowest  safe  figure  for  the  harbors  in  shel- 
tered places,  but  that  a  larger  figure  than  this  should  be  used  for  canal  excavations. 

No  responsible  engineer  would  consider  himself  justified  in  adopting  unit  prices 
materially  less  than  those  paid  on  work  executed  within  a  recent  period.  The 
adoption  of  the  price  based  on  the  performance  of  the  Bates  hydraulic  dredge,  would 
beat  the  present  time  unjusti  liable.  This  machine  has  a  record  obtained  from  a 
mean  of  ten  ofticial  tests  of  a  little  over  4,000  cubic  yards  per  hour.  These  ten  tests 
occupied  in  all  less  than  ten  minutes,  and  consisted  in  filling  tanks  of  known  capac- 
ity, the  tanks  being  filled  ordinarily  in  less  than  one  minute.  Colonel  Flad,  well 
known  to  civil  engineers,  and  a  member  of  the  Mississippi  River  Conmiission,  states, 
in  a  recent  letter,  that  the  machine  was  never  worked  for  six  hours  without  break- 
ing down,  and  that  he  is  led  to  believe  that  its  capacity  for  actual  work  would  not 
exceed  1,600  cubic  yards  per  hour.  A  safe  estimate  of  the  capacity  of  this  machine 
can  not  be  made  until  after  at  least  a  full  season's  work. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  I  would  like  to  ask  about  that.  That  may  be  true 
of  Mississippi  dredging,  but  the  dredges  used  on  the  Mississix)pi  Eiver 
have  been  used  for  years 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Eight  on  the  Potomac  Flats,  too. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  So  it  is  only  the  greater  capacity  of  the  dredge 
which  has  to  be  tested? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  And  practically  the  superior  economy  of  its  per- 
formance that  remains  to  be  ascertained,  because  it  is  not  mere  quan- 
tity. It  is  what  you  have  to  pay  for  your  work,  after  all.  If  a  big 
dredge  will  do  it  cheaper,  then  it  is  good,  but  if  a  little  one  will  do  it 
more  cheaply,  that  is  the  one  you  want. 

The  price  for  dredging  at  Mobile  was  the  lowest  in  the  United  States  to  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  board.  The  board  would  not  be  justified  in  basing  unit  prices  on  this 
single  example  diftering  so  widely  from  the  price  of  other  work  the  conditions  of 
which  it  is  entirely  familiar  with.  In  any  case,  the  Mobile  price  could  only  apply 
to  work  of  an  entirely  similar  character,  and  the  only  comparison  could  therefore  be 
made  with  reference  to  the  dredging  in  Lake  Nicaragua,  where  the  conditions  do  pre- 
sent a  considerable  similarity  as  pointed  out  in  the  hoard's  report.  It  is  to  be  remem- 
))ered,  however,  that  in  the  case  of  Lake  Nicaragua  provision  must  be  made  to 
prevent  the  adjacent  soft  material  from  flowing  into  the  cut  as  made  and  does  not 
believe  that  even  Mr.  Bates's  magnificent  dredge,  assuming  the  full  capacity  claimed 
for  it,  would  be  able,  without  special  engineering  constructions  or  devices  of  some 
kind,  to  make  the  channel  through  the  14  miles  of  soft  mud,  varying  from  pea  soup 
to  stiff,  through  which  the  lake  channel  will  have  to  be  cut.  The  board  believes  that 
if  this  dredge  should  pump  a  channel  from  the  lake  shore  to  the  39-foot  contour  by 
the  time  it  had  terminated  its  14  miles  of  cut  the  earlier  excavation  could  not  be 
detected. 

No  provision  is  made  in  the  estimates  for  protecting  the  sides  of  the  cut  from  inflow, 
and,  as  the  board  suggests,  this  will  have  to  be  done  either  by  sheet-piling  (an  extraor- 
dinarily expensive  method)  or  by  following  the  German  precedent  of  building 
under-water  walls  of  stitt"  material,  which  would  sink  through  the  softer  material, 
as  was  done  in  the  case  of  the  Kiel  Canal,  whose  longitudinal  sand  dams  were  built 
prior  to  the  endeavor  to  excavate  the  channel  between  them.  At  Lake  Nicaragua 
there  is  no  sand  available  for  this  purpose,  and  dependence  must  be  placed  upon  the 
clay  to  be  excavated,  probably  from  the  cut  itself,  which  may  or  may  not  be  of  sufiS- 
cient  coherence  to  answer  the  purpose,  and  for  which  the  hydraulic  dredge  is  totally 
unavailable.  Whatever  the  cost  of  constructing  these  dams  may  be,  it  must  be  added 
to  the  cost  of  excavation  by  increasing  the  unit  price. 

In  order  to  give  the  committee  a  clear  idea  of  the  nature  of  this  soft  mud,  it  may 
be  stated  that  in  taking  soundings  Avith  a  sounding  pole,  the  only  method  by  which 
the  depth  of  water  could  be  ascertained,  was  by  noting  the  length  of  rod  covered 
with  mud  after  withdrawing  it  from  the  water. 


250  NICARAGUA   CANAL. 

On  the  trip  down  the  lake,  after  the  completion  of  the  inspection  of  the  western 
division,  the  lake  steamer  plowed  through  this  mud,  reducing  her  speed  to  two  or 
three  miles  per  hour,  but  not  stopping  the  movement  of  the  boat.  Her  draft  was 
about  7  feet. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  That  would  be  navigating  in  mud? 
Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes;  it  is  lovely  for  it. 
Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Navigation  in  mud  is  a  new  factor. 
Colonel  Ludlow.  You  will  tind  many  new  things  down  there. 

Referring  to  the  unit  price  for  work  executed  in  Hay  Lake  Channel,  it  is  to  be 
noted  that  the  dredj^ing  was  not  only  through  material  readily  excavated,  but  that 
the  place  for  depositing  the  dredgetl  materials  was  in  the  near  vicinity.  The  unit 
price  assumed  by  the  hoard  for  interior  dredging  in  tlie  harbors  of  Greytown  and 
Brito  was  20  cents  per  cubic  yard,  allhoiigli  by  reason  of  allowing  a  greater  figure 
for  dredging  in  the  harbor  entrances  exposed  to  the  action  of  the  sea,  the  average 
price  assumed  was  25  cents.  Tlie  comparison,  tlicrefore,  between  the  unit  price  at 
llay  Lake  Channel  and  the  board's  assunicJ  price  is  between  15  and  20  cents,  and 
tlie  increase  in  sums  for  the  Nicaragua  work  ^.re  certainly  moderate  in  amount  when 
the  conditions  of  the  two  localities  arc  considered.  In  tixiug  this  as  their  price,  the 
boai'd  took  into  consideration  the  iirobable  use  of  more  powerful  machinery  and 
consequent  reduction  in  unit  cost.  Futliermore,  its  unit  cost  was,  to  a  certain  extent, 
suggested  by  the  actual  experience  of  the  canal  company,  which  found  its  net  cost 
11  cents  with  powerful  dredges,  allowing  nothing  for  wear  and  tear,  depreciation  of 
plant,  interest  on  outlaj',  prolit,  or  any  other  item  than  the  ordinary  daily  current 
repairs  of  the  apparatus. 

Furthermore,  the  material  excavated  was  not  deposited  outside  the  limits  of  the 
work,  and  as  de])osited  must  later  be  moved  a  second  time  in  order  to  get  it  a  proper 
distance  from  the  excavation.  Furthermore,  that  portion  of  the  work  done  by  the 
company  was  absolutely  the  easiest  and  cheapest  of  all  the  work  there  is  to  be  done 
on  the  canal.  It  was  clear  sand,  which  ])resently  runs  out  and  becomes  more  or  less 
mixed  with  clay,  and  later  disappears  altogether  when  passing  from  Greytown  Har- 
bor toward  the  east  divide.  The  company  could  argue  that  this  work  costing  11 
cents  furnishes  a  datum  for  all  the  other  work  in  that  vicinity,  including  the  clay 
excavation  and  the  dredging  at  the  entrance,  where  the  operations  will  be  affected 
by  the  sea.  If  the  actual  cost  of  maintenance  of  plant  were  added  to  the  company's 
figures,  it  would  increase  the  price  $1  per  cubic  yard,  because  the  plant  is  now 
utterly  valueless.  This  is,  of  course,  an  excessive  allowance  under  ordinary  con- 
ditions; but  the  plant  account  would,  in  any  case,  be  a  very  large  share  of  the  total 
cost  of  the  unit  price. 

If  the  hydraulic  dredge  were  to  be  used  for  excavation  in  the  canal  section  near 
Greytown  Harbor,  it  would  be  necessary,  first,  to  remove  the  surface  material,  includ- 
ing stumps,  logs,  roots,  etc.,  with  some  other  plant,  before  the  hydraulic  dredge 
could  be  s.ifely  operated.  When  proceeding  upward  from  the  divide,  entering  the 
region  where  material  consists  largely  of  inud,  the  proportion  of  submerged  logs  and 
stumps  would  undoubtedly  be  much  greater  than  where  dredging  was  done  in  the 
vicinity  of  Greytown  Harbor. 

The  conditions  at  Brito  are,  if  anything,  less  favorable  than  at  Greytown;  while 
the  rainfall  is  less,  the  swell  from  the  ocean  would  be  much  greater. 

It  is  impossible  to  say  what  may  be  the  essentials  with  reference  to  the  dredging  of 
the  San  Juan  River,  the  nature  of  the  river  bed,  so  far  as  the  distribution  of  the  mate- 
rials is  concerned  and  their  depth,  being  practically  unknown.  The  lead-line  indi- 
cations make  it  probable  that  it  consists  largely,  in  certain  parts,  of  bowlders  and 
other  materials  impossible  to  dredge.  In  any  case,  it  is  to  be  observed  that  the  dis- 
position to  be  made  of  the  dredgings  from  the  river  is  a  difficult  matter,  and  there 
is  no  other  way,  at  this  time,  of  taking  this  difficulty  into  account  than  to  leave  the 
unit  price  with  a  moderate  allowance  for  covering  it.  It  may  be  observed  that  the 
price  adopted  by  the  board  for  this  work  is  the  same  as  that  used  by  the  company 
in  their  latest  published  report.  It  should  be  clearly  understood  that  nothing  later 
than  the  report  of  1890,  in  the  nature  of  estimates,  has  been  accessible  to  the  public, 
and  that  when  engineers  and  contractors  are  represented  as  accepting  the  company's 
estimates,  the  figures  of  1890  are  the  ones  to  which  they  refer,  and  not  the  revised 
figures  of  1895  prepared  at  the  request  of  the  board. 

Inasmuch  as  all  the  machinery,  of  whatever  description,  to  be  used  on  this  work 
must  be  imported  from  a  distance,  in  an  estimate  in  which  all  charges  for  transpor- 
tation and  delivery  of  plant  are  omitted,  there  are  no  means  of  meeting  these 
expenses  (which,  beyond  doubt,  any  contractor  would  charge  for)  except  to  enter  it 
as  a  part  of  the  unit  price  of  the  work,  aud  a  similar  allowance  either  for  the  return 
or  the  abandonment  of  the  plant  on  completion  of  the  work.  The  propriety  of 
charging  the  work  with  the  entire  cost  of  the  plant  is  denied  by  the  chief  engineer 
(p.  87  of  the  hearings)  and  admitted  (p.  88). 


NICARAGUA  CANAL.  251 

Colonel  Ludlow.  With  your  permission,  I  will  read  that.  It  is  a 
rather  imi)ortant  point,  because  it  is  an  item  of  cost.  At  the  bottom  of 
page  81  Mr.  Menocal  in  his  paper,  not  his  oral  testimony,  states : 

There  seems  to  be  no  good  reaspn  for  the  statement  th^t  the  machinery  U8ed\will 
be  of  but  little  value  after  the  construction  of  the  canal,  that  hardly  any  of  it 
will  be  worth  removal,  and  its  entire  cost  would  therefore  be  charj^ed  to  canal  con- 
struction, making  the  plant  charge  higher  than  usual.  With  the  canal  finished  and 
opened  to  traffic,  and  a  railroad  parallel  to  it,  there  is  no  reason  why  the  plant  should 
not  be  transported  to  any  part  of  the  world  where  there  may  be  a  demand  for  it  at 
the  same  or  less  cost  of  transportation  than  in  the  United  States. 

The  dredging  plant  used  in  Panama  for  several  years  was  transferred  to  Greytown 
in  good  working  order,  and  the  whole  plant  of  the  Panama  Canal  could  have  been 
shipped  to  Nicaragua  without  much  trouble  and  at  small  cost. 

He  does  not  note  that  one  of  the  dredges  from  Panama  was  sunk  on 
the  route  and  was  lost. 
Now,  at  the  top  of  page  88  he  says : 

However,  it  is  quite  likely  that  contractors  in  bidding  for  woi'k  on  the  canal  would 
figure  but  little  on  future  returns  from  the  sale  of  the  plant  used  in  the  work,  and  it 
may  well  be  doubted  that  the  contractors  for  the  Chicago  drainage  canal,  with  the 
experience  gained  at  Suez  and  Manchester  and  other  similar  works,  expect  any  pro- 
ceeds on  the  completion  of  their  contracts  from  the  sale  of  the  special  machinery 
and  other  appliances  used  in  the  works,  except  as  scrap. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Of  course  that  is  true,  if  the  machinery  is  worn  out? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  is  whether  there  is  any  good  reason  to  believe 
the  machinery  would  be  of  any  value,  and  on  the  next  page  he  says  it 
will  not  be. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  I  do  not  see  anything  inconsistent  in  that  at  all. 
If  it  is  worn  out,  it  will  be  valueless,  and  the  other  will  not  be"? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  charge  the  cost  of  the  jilant  to  the  work,  and 
he  is  objecting  on  page  87  to  that,  while  on  page  88  he  admits  it. 

The  current  cost  of  dredging  at  the  Suez  Canal  varies  from  a  franc  to  a  franc  and 
a  half — say  20  to  30  cents — this  figure  applying  to  quantities  of  about  a  million  cubic 
meters  annually  for  maintenance  only,  and  another  probably  equal  amount  for  the 
widening. 

The  dredging  at  the  Manchester  Canal  was  9  pence  half  penny — say  19  cents — per 
cubic  yard  when  landed,  and  7  pence — say  14  cents — wlien  towed  out  to  sea. 

Mr.  Stewart.  They  do  not  have  the  best  machinery,  do  they? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  They  are  prettj''  good  machinists. 

Mr.  Stewart.  They  have  not  got  the  Bates  dredging  machines. 
You  do  not  consider  them  up  to  date  in  reference  to  dredging  machin- 
ery? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  They  are  pretty  practical  kind  of  people.  They 
have  all  kinds  of  dredges  that  anybody  has.  There  are  great  sea- 
going dredges  built  on  the  Clyde,  which  go  out  to  Australia.  They 
have  sent  out  great  dredges  as  far  as  Australia. 

Mr.  Stewart.  But  American  patterns  they  get  from  America,  they 
have  not  their  own  designs,  and 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Oh,  yes;  they  do  not  use  dredges  from  this  coun- 
try. When  the  Nicaragua  Canal  Company  wanted  a  dredge  it  ordered 
one  from  Glasgow. 

The  cost  at  this  point  is  obviously  less  than  it  would  be  for  similar  work  in  the 
United  States  on  account  of  less  cost  of  plant  and  lower  rate  of  wages.  In  con- 
structing the  Manchester  Canal  the  cost  of  dredging  soft  material  varied  from  25  to 
37|  cents,  and  for  material  requiring  blasting  from  $1  to  $2.50  per  cubic  yard. 

Earth  excavations  above  water,  western  division:  In  the  western  division,  where 
the  rainfall  (though  much  greater  than  in  the  United  States)  is  much  less  than  in  the 
eastern  division,  the  cost  of  the  work  is  more  nearly  comparable  to  that  of  the  United 
States. 

The  average  contract  price  of  earth  excavation  from  the  Chicago  Drainage  Canal 
is  not  far  from  30  cents  per  cubic  yard,  or  for  clay  alone  about  25  cents  per  cubic 


252  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

yard.  This  work  was  executed  mainly  during  the  summer,  because  it  could  not  be 
profitaljly  carried  on  during  the  unfavorable  weather  of  winter.  While  the  work 
was  being  executed  the  banks  of  the  canal  were  formed,  making  it  easier  to  remove 
the  plant  for  wasting  the  spoil,  and,  as  noted  by  Mr.  Bates  in  his  interesting  testi- 
mony, experience  on  the  canal  demonstrated  that  the  two  lines  of  railroad  running 
on  either  side  of  the  canal  were  of  inestimable  service.  This  and  the  proximity  to 
the  almost  limitless  mechanical  resources  of  Chicago,  together  with  tlie  extremely 
low  price  of  fuel  obtained  from  the  vast  coal  fields  of  northern  Illinois  in  the  imme- 
diate vicinity,  delivered  at  $1.75  per  ton,  rendered  the  cost  much  loss  than  that  of 
similar  work  in  Nicaragua.  The  addition  of  60  per  cent  to  the  cost  of  work  at 
Chicago  to  meet  the  comparatively  unfavorable  conditions  of  climate,  rainfall,  cost 
of  plant,  fuel,  and  all  other  supplies  is  an  extremely  moderate  one.  The  figure 
adopted  by  the  board,  40  cents  per  cubic  yard,  is  the  one  which  appears  in  the  com- 
pany's schedule  of  1890,  and  is  the  one  adopted  by  Mr.  Treat  in  his  pro})08al  to  the 
company,  although  under  certain  conditions  which  practically  amount  to  a  large 
increase.  In  its  recent  estimate  the  company  has  reduced  this  unit  iignre  to  35  cents 
for  earth  excavation  from  the  canal,  but  retained  it  for  excavation  at  locks. 

It  is  usi^al,  in  receiving  proposals  for  lock  excavation,  to  ask  for  a  separate  price  for 
pumping.  In  the  present  case  the  cost  of  all  auxiliary  work  is  included  in  the  unit 
price  for  excavation,  except  in  the  case  of  the  tide  lock,  where  specific  allowance  is 
made.  In  this  connection  it  may  be  well  to  note  that,  anticipating  the  difficulty 
involving  the  construction  of  lock  pits  under  heavy  rainfall,  the  chief  engineer,  on 
page  89,  states  that  it  can  be  easily  met  by  the  construction  of  temporary  sheds  over 
the  lock  sites,  but  has  not  apparently  undertaken  to  make  an  estimate  of  what  it  will 
cost  to  put  under  roof  an  area  of  800  feet  long  by  perhaps  100  or  150  feet  in  width. 

Excavation  above  water,  eastern  division :  It  would  be  difficult  to  imagine  more 
unfavorable  conditions  for  excavating  clay  than  exist  in  the  eastern  division  under 
the  tremendous  rainfall  of  nearly  300  inches  per  year. 

The  work  in  the  east  divide  is  through  a  continuous  series  of  hills,  and  after  the 
removal  of  the  clay  the  profile  taken  on  the  surface  of  the  rock  will  be  only  a  little 
less  hilly  than  before.  The  difficulty  of  handling  plant  for  the  removal  of  material 
will  be  easily  appreciated,  and  the  addition  of  50  per  cent  to  the  price  adojtted  for 
the  western  division  is  not  excessive.  This  unit  price  includes  the  cost  of  disposing 
of  the  flow  of  the  waters  of  the  Deseado  and  Limpio,  which  cross  the  canal  line 
frequently,  and  during  the  heavy  rains  have  large  volumes  of  water.  The  impor- 
tance of  this  is  very  great,  and  the  entire  lack  of  data  as  to  the  actual  volume  renders 
it  impossible  for  an  engineer  or  contractor  to  estimate,  even  approximately,  the  cost 
of  doing  this.  The  rains,  which  occur  nearly  every  day,  would  cause  the  entire  sus- 
pension of  work  of  the  same  character  anywhere  in  the  United  States.  In  ordinary 
work  an  inch  of  rain  would  involve  temporary  suspension  and  resort  to  pumping  to 
clear  the  site. 

The  cost  of  earth  excavation  for  the  lock  now  in  use  at  the  St.  Marys  Falls  Canal 
was  over  $1  per  cubic  yard,  and  the  contract  was  profitable.  The  contract  price  for 
the  lock  about  to  be  opened  was  43  cents  per  cubic  yard,  and  the  contractors  were 
in  financial  ditlficulty  before  the  completion  of  the  work. 

Excavation  at  site  of  embankment:  The  cost  of  this  is  estimated  by  the  company 
at  $1  per  cubic  yard  and  by  the  board  at  $1.50.  The  figure  adopted  by  the  board  was 
obtained  by  consultation  with  a  very  competent  contractor,  Mr.  Arthur  MeMullen, 
of  New  York,  a  portion  of  this  unit  price  being  made  to  include  the  necessary  cost 
of  cutting  off"  the  mud  bottoms  above  and  below  the  site  to  iH'event  inflow  into  the 
excavation,  a  cheap  and  ready  method  of  doing  this  being  suggested  as  the  sinking 
of  rough  timber  cribs,  filled  with  stone,  into  the  soft  bottom. 

Rock  excavation,  western  division :  The  company's  price  for  rock  excavation  in 
the  western  division,  according  to  the  schedule  of  1890,  is  $1.25  per  cubic  yard, 
reduced  to  $1  in  their  estimate  of  1895,  published  for  the  fii'st  time  in  the  report  of 
the  board.     The  board  has  adopted  the  company's  price  of  1890. 

The  price  adopted  by  Mr.  Treat  was  $1.25,  the  same  as  in  the  schedule  of  1890  ami 
in  the  estimate  of  the  board,  but  with  certain  conditions,  which,  as  before  offered 
with  reference  to  the  price  of  earth  excavation,  made  a  material  increase. 

The  conditions  under  which  this  work  would  be  done  in  the  western  division  are 
much  less  favorable  than  at  the  Chicago  Drainage  Canal,  for  reasons  before  given, 
and  for  the  additional  reason  that  the  material  is  largely  h.ard,  volcanic  rock,  which 
breaks  up  much  less  readily,  and  where  the  cost  of  making  the  sides  of  the  canal 
smooth,  so  as  to  be  practicable  for  the  passage  of  vessels,  would  be  considerably 
greater. 

On  the  eastern  division  the  conditions  are  less  favorable  in  every  way,  .and  the 
increase  of  50  per  cent  per  cubic  yard  is  a  very  moderate  allowance  therefor.  The 
economic  methods  developed  at  the  Chicago  Drainage  Canal  will  be  applicable  here 
to  a  very  small  extent  only.  The  average  contract  price  of  rock  excavation  at  the 
Chicago  Drainage  Canal  is  about  75  cents  per  cubic  yard.    The  rock  is  a  soft  lime- 


NICARAGUA   CANAL.  253 

stone,  horizontally  stratified,  which  can  he  drilled  easily,  which  hreaks  up  well  with 
explosives,  and  in  which  the  sides  can  be  made  smooth  cheaply  by  channeling.  Tlie 
ground  is  level,  the  rock  being  generally  found  at  the  surface,  and  the  jilant  for 
the  removal  of  the  material  is  easily  handled,  to  say  nothing  of  the  unusual  and 
extraordinary  facilities  furnished  by  railways  for  furnishing  access  to  the  work. 

The  contract  price  for  the  large  amount  of  rock  excavation  at  the  Jerome  Park 
reservoir,  JSTew  York  City,  placed  under  contract  for  the  last  year,  is  about  80  cents 
per  cubic  yard.  The  rock  is  a  laminated  gneiss,  which  would  be  somewhat  more 
difiicult  to  drill  and  blast  than  the  limestone  in  the  Chicago  Drainage  Canal,  and 
less  so  than  the  so-called  conglomerate  on  the  east  divide. 

Earth  embankments:  The  price  adopted  by  the  board  and  that  adopted  by  the 
company  are  the  same,  except  that  it  was  found  that  the  excavation  in  the  east 
divide  would  not  supply  a  sufficient  amount  of  clay  for  the  embankments  in  the  San 
Francisco  Basin.  An  addition  was  therefore  made  to  cover  the  cost  of  excavating 
and  loading  on  cars  the  required  additional  material.  The  company  made  no  allow- 
ance for  this  indiijpensable  item  of  cost. 

By  building  considerable  additional  railroad  line  a  portion  of  this  required  material 
might  come  from  the  several  short  excavations  for  the  canal  in  the  San  Francisco 
Basin,  but  the  cost  would  probably  be  at  least  as  much  as  by  the  method  considered 
by  the  board. 

The  estimate  for  the  San  Francisco  division  in  1890  is  3,250,000  cubic  yards  at  30 
cents.  The  company's  1895  estimate  is  over  6,000,000  cubic  yards,  using  the  same 
unit  price,  without  noting  the  fact  that  the  practical  doubling  of  the  quantity  will 
necessitate  borrowing  to  build  the  embankments.  The  board  found  it  absolutely 
necessary  to  make  an  increased  allowance  to  meet  this  additional  cost. 

Rock  excavation  under  water:  The  main  body  of  this  work  must  be  done  in  the 
upper  30  miles  of  the  San  Juan  Eiver.  The  company's  iinit  price  for  this  in  1890  is 
$5,  which  they  reduce  to  $3  in  their  revised  estimate  of  1895. 

The  cost  of  this  class  of  work  has  been  greatly  reduced  in  recent  years.  The  larger 
part  of  the  work  has  been  done  by  Mr.  Charles  F.  Dunbar,  of  Buffalo,  who  is  the 
inventor  of  a  device  by  which  a  large  reduction  of  cost  has  been  effected.  Consider- 
ing Mr.  Dunbar  the  highest  living  authority  on  this  question,  he  was  consulted  by 
the  board,  and  suggested  the  unit  price  of  $5  to  $6  per  cubic  yard,  and  the  board 
adopted  the  lower  of  his  figures.  Mr.  Dunbar  has  recently'  authorized  the  use  of  his 
name  in  this  connection. 

The  low  price  paid  for  this  class  of  work  under  current  contracts  on  St.  Marys 
River,  Michigan,  viz,  $2.43  per  cubic  yard,  is  not  a  criterion  for  the  cost  of  work  in 
Nicaragua.  The  rock  in  the  St.  Marys  River  is  horizontally  stratified  limestone, 
more  easily  blasted  and  dredged.  The  work  is  done  in  a  more  favorable  climate  and 
in  the  neighborhood  of  all  facilities  for  the  supply  and  maintenance  of  plant. 

In  adopting  the  lowest  figure  named  by  Mr.  Dunbar  for  work  of  this  class,  the 
board  has  gone  to  the  lowest  limit  which  it  believed  to  be  permissible  under  the  cir- 
cumstances, particularly  as  in  the  case  of  the  St.  Marys  Eiver  the  depth  of  excava- 
tion is  only  22  feet,  while  in  the  San  Juan  River  it  is  about  28  feet,  and  the  jiroper 
disposition  to  be  made  of  the  material  arises  as  a  question  for  careful  consideration 
and  may  involve  special  arrangements  for  guiding  the  flow  of  the  stream  and  the 
maintenance  of  the  channel  depth. 

Lock  construction:  It  is  to  be  noted  that  the  company's  project  makes  use  of  no 
other  material  in  the  construction  of  the  locks  than  concrete.  If  the  estimates  are 
to  be  followed  in  this  respect,  the  various  canal  publications  and  statements  indicate 
the  use  of  ashler  masonry,  of  iron,  and  other  material,  which,  however,  are  lacking 
from  the  estimates,  which  provide  only  for  concrete  at  $6  per  cubic  yard.  For 
example,  Mr.  Meuocal's  Chicago  paper,  pages  33  and  34,  stated  the  body  of  the  lock 
is  to  be  of  concrete,  with  cut  stones  in  the  miter  sills,  the  hollow  quoins,  and  such 
angles  as  give  protection  from  shocks.     Of  all  this,  nothing  appears  in  the  estimates. 

The  board  has  found  difficulty  in  understanding  what  the  company  really  proposed, 
as  there  are  absolutely  no  detailed  or  construction  drawings  of  any  kind,  and  in 
forming  its  own  estimate  and  computing  the  cost  of  these  locks,  the  board  was 
forced  to  prepare  for  its  own  use  preliminary  drawings  of  this  kind. 

It  is  evident  that  the  use  of  a  resisting  and  massive  material  is  absolutely  nec- 
essary in  lock  construction,  to  take  up  the  shock  and  percussion  due  to  the  passage 
of  large  vessels,  and  the  practice  is  universal  of  using  materials  of  this  kind,  either 
of  a  very  high  order  of  brick  masonry  or  the  use  of  solid  cut  stone ;  limestone  or 
granite  of  the  toughest  and  most  resisting  kind. 

The  use  of  these  materials  is  not  only  in  connection  with  the  movement  of  vessels, 
but  also  to  insure  the  solidity  of  anchoring  for  the  gates  and  other  appliances  in 
connection  with  the  operation  of  the  lock. 

The  company  disregards  all  these  considerations,  and  uses  exclusively  a  concrete 
in  the  proportions,  as  stated  by  the  chief  engineer,  of  1  volume  of  cement,  2  of  sand, 
and  5  of  broken  stone,  at  an  estimated  cost  of  $6  per  cubic  yard. 


254  NICARAGUA   CANAL. 

Under  the  conditions  existing  in  Nicaraijua,  where  there  appears  to  he  an  utter 
ahsence  of  stone  suitable  for  ashler  masonry,  the  use  of  concrete  for  the  main  walls 
of  the  lock  is  perhaps  permissible,  and  was  contemplated  in  the  estimates  of  the  board. 
Greater  strength  should  be  given  to  exposed  angles,  by  the  introduction  of  lirst-class 
stonework.  The  estimate  of  the  board  covers  the  cost  of  this  material  for  the  hollow 
quoins  aud  portions  of  the  walls  in  which  the  jjosts  of  the  gates  will  turn.  This  is 
certainly  the  minimum  amount  of  this  nuxterial  which  can  be  used,  and  is  much  leas 
than  any  other  known  coustruction.  Granite  should  be  used  for  this  purpose,  and 
wuuhl  have  to  be  transported  from  abroad.  The  board's  unit  is  $G0  per  cubic  yard, 
which,  of  course,  includes  the  expensive  stone  cutting  necessary  to  adapt  it  to  its 
uses,  and  the  special  plant  roquireil  for  laying  it  in  place. 

It  would  probably  be  judicious  to  use  the  same  class  of  material  at  the  other  exposed 
angles  and  for  the  miter  sills,  as  suggested  by  the  chief  engineer  in  his  Chicago  paper, 
which  were  not  provided  for  in  his  estimates. 

In  addition  to  this,  in  view  of  the  unprecedented  dimensions  of  the  locks  as  pro- 
posed, and  the  uncertain  nature  of  the  material  in  which,  of  necessity,  the  locks 
must  rest,  and  the  possibility  of  the  variation  in  the  nature  and  supporting  power 
of  this  nuitcrial  within  the  limits  of  the  lock  area. 

The  board,  while  making  free  use  of  concrete,  has  considered  the  possible  neces- 
sity of  strengthening  the  lower  portions  of  these  structures  by  steel  beams  embedded 
in  the  concrete.  This  is  especially  important  in  view  of  the  tendency  of  the  middle 
of  the  lock  bottom  to  rise  in  consequence  of  the  great  upward  pressure  from  below, 
which  can  not  be  counterbalanced  by  the  lock  content. 

It  appeared  to  the  board  that  another  large  addition  to  the  estimates  was  neces- 
sary to  provide  protection  to  the  inner  surfaces  of  the  culverts  for  the  admission 
to,  or  discharge  of,  water  from  the  lock.  This  might  be  provided  by  a  lining  of  hard 
brick,  or  by  a  metal  lining.     The  estimates  of  the  board  provide  for  the  latter. 

Concrete :  The  board's  estimate  for  the  cost  of  concrete  is  based  on  the  following 
particulars:  The  price  of  cement  was  furnished  by  the  New  York  agent  of  one  of 
the  principal  German  manufactories,  for  delivery  at  Greytown  and  Brito.  The 
jjrices  were  $2.30  per  barrel,  f.  o.  b.,  Greytown,  and  $2.42,  f.  o.  b.,  Brito.  The 
board  endeavored  to  make  a  careful  estimate  for  unloadiug,  lauding,  transporting, 
and  storing  this  material,  with  a  just  allowance  for  waste  in  that  damp  climate, 
resulting  in  the  unit  price  of  $2.60  at  the  site  of  the  work  on  either  slope. 

The  sand  must  be  obtained  from  the  sea  beach,  and  the  estimated  cost  at  the  site 
of  the  work  is  55  cents  on  the  eastern  slope  aud  50  cents  on  the  western  slope,  for 
collection,  transportation,  and  delivery. 

The  cost  of  the  sand  at  the  St.  Marys  Falls  Canal  lock  has  been  somewhat  more 
than  40  cents  per  cubic  yard,  all  the  conditions  being  less  expensive,  the  point  of 
collection  beiug  nearer,  and  the  expeuse  of  handling  considerably  less.  The  board's 
estimate  is  very  low  comparatively. 

The  estimated  cost  of  broken  stone,  delivered  at  the  site  of  the  Avork,  is  $1  on  the 
Atlantic  Slope  and  90  cents  on  the  Pacilic  Slope.  This  includes  the  cost  of  storing 
and  loading  the  stone  from  the  spoil  banks,  transporting  it  to  the  site  of  the  work, 
unloadiug,  aud  crushing.  The  cost  for  the  same  item  at  the  St.  Marys  Falls  Canal 
has  been  between  80  aud  90  cents  per  cubic  yard  on  the  work  just  completed,  the 
stone  being  obtained  within  1,000  feet  of  the  site  of  the  work. 

Basing  its  estimate  per  1  cubic  yard  of  concrete  on  this  data,  aud  usiug  the  pro- 
portions specified  by  the  chief  engineer  of  the  canal  company,  we  have  the  follow- 
ing table  of  cost  of  the  work: 

(1)  Eastern  division: 

1.47  barrels  of  cement,  at  $2.60 $3.82 

.36  cubic  yards  of  sand,  at  55  cents 20 

.91  cubic  yards  of  stone,  at  $1 91 

Timber  forms  (material  aud  labor) 1.  00 

Plant 50 

Labor  (mixing  and  placing) 1.  50 

Total 7.93 

Contractor's  profit  (20  per  cent) 1.59 

Cost  for  1  cubic  yard  of  concrete 9.  52 

Price  adopted  by  the  board,  $9.50. 

(2)  Western  division : 

The  corresponding  total  for  the  western  division,  including  20  per  cent  for  con- 
tractor's profit,  is  $9.08,  the  dift'orence  being  due  to  slightly  less  cost  of  sand  and 
stone  and  to  better  climatic  conditions.  The  price  adopted  by  the  board  for  the 
Avestern  division  is  $9.  It  will  be  observed  that  the  board  in  both  cases  adopted  as 
its  unit  price  a  figure  actually  less  than  the  detailed  estimate  indicated. 


NICARAGUA   CANAL.  255 

Aa  stated  in  the  report  of  the  board,  the  cost  of  concrete  of  the  same  proportions 
used  in  the  locks  of  the  Hennepin  Canal,  between  Chicago  and  the  Miseissipjii  River, 
was  $9  per  cubic  yard.  This  was  done  by  hired  labor,  and  includes  no  allowance 
whatever  for  profit.  This  cost  is  greater  than  the  usual  cost  of  concrete  of  these 
proportions  in  the  United  States,  and  is  due  to  the  great  care  and  thoroughness  with 
which  the  work  was  done. 

The  board  does  not  believe  that  this  price,  though  it  represents  an  unusually  hirge 
one  in  the  United  States,  can  by  any  possibility  be  safely  reduced,  for  the  totally 
different  conditions,  much  more  difficult,  under  which  the  similar  work  must  be  done 
in  Nicaragua. 

The  cost  of  concrete  of  the  same  proportions  under  current  contracts  at  the  Brook- 
lyn Navy-Yard  was  $7  ( ?)  per  cnbic  yard. 

The  low  cost  of  concrete  ($4.57  per  cubic  yard)  in  the  locks  ou  the  Coosa  River,  in 
Alabama,  referred  to  by  the  chief  engineer,  is  due,  first,  to  the  proportions  used, 
which  are  1  volume  of  cement,  3  of  sand,  and  5^  of  broken  stone,  thereby  greatly 
reducing  the  amount  of  the  expensive  iugredient,  cement;  second,  to  the  unusually 
low  price  of  labor  in  the  particular  section  where  this  work  was  done,  viz,  $1  per 
day;  third,  for  the  low  cost  of  the  staging  and  moules,  which  were  made  of  timber, 
the  work  being  located  in  the  heart  of  the  southern  pine  region  ;  fourth,  the  omission 
of  any  charge  for  the  use  of  the  plant;  and  fifth,  the  absence  of  any  allowance  for 
profit,  the  work  being  done  directly  by  the  Government.  With  these  allowances  the 
figures  Avill  be  corroborative  of  those  of  the  board. 

These  lock  constructions,  while  the  exact  dimensions  are  not  at  the  moment  in  the 
hands  of  the  board,  were  of  moderate  dimensions,  and  are  in  no  sense  comparable  to 
the  tremendous  constructions  estimated  for  in  Nicaragua. 

The  San  Mateo  Dam,  in  California,  a  very  large  construction  of  concrete,  cost  per 
cubic  yard  $8,  the  proportions  used  being  1  volume  of  cement,  2  volumes  of  sand,  and 
6  volumes  of  broken  stone. 

The  Betaloo  Dam,  in  Australia,  contains  upward  of  60,000  cubic  yards  of  concrete, 
costiug  $10.16  per  cubic  yard,  labor  being  $1.68  per  day. 

The  large  amount  of  concrete  used  at  the  Cascade  locks  in  Oregon  cost  $8  per  cubic 
yard,  with  no  allowance  for  profit,  the  work  being  done  directly  by  the  Government. 
The  proportions  for  a  large  part  of  this  work  were  1  volume  of  cement,  3  volumes  of 
sand,  and  6  volumes  of  broken  stone.  For  another  large  portion  1  volume  of  cement, 
4  volumes  of  sand,  and  8  volumes  of  broken  stone.  A  small  proportion  of  the  total 
amount  was  composed  of  1  volume  of  cement,  2  volumes  of  sand,  and  4  volumes  of 
broken  stone,  the  average  containing  a  smaller  proportion  of  cement  than  is  proposed 
for  the  Nicaragua  Canal. 

The  cost  of  concrete  in  San  Francisco  Harbor,  in  proportions  of  1,  3,  and  8,  was 
$5.22,  with  no  allowance  for  plant  or  profit.  This  concrete  contained  relatively  a 
small  proportion  of  cement. 

Mr.  Wheeler,  an  en,i;iueer  employed  on  the  St.  Marys  lock,  in  his  article  on  lock 
construction  in  the  Engineering  News  of  June  2,1893,  makes  a  total  estimate  for  six 
locks  at  Nicaragua,  system  of  locks  of  36  feet  7  inches,  the  total  of  which  amounts 
to  $1,000,000  for  each  lock  at  United  States  prices,  and  on  the  assumption  that  the 
lock  is  to  be  built  on  a  rock  foundation.  Starting  with  this  figure  of  $1,000,000  for 
the  lock  itself,  adding  $400,000  for  additional  concrete,  to  constitute  a  lock  founda- 
tion in  lieu  of  the  rock  considered  by  Mr.  Wheeler,  makes  $1,400,000  at  United  States 
prices.  This  total  needs  translation  into  Nicaragua  prices,  for  which  an  additional 
allowance  of  not  less  than  50  per  cent  should  be  made,  making  the  Nicaragua  cost 
of  tlie  lock,  exclusive  of  excavation  of  the  lock  site,  $2,100,000,  making  a  total  of 
$6,000,000  for  the  three  locks  of  the  eastern  division,  with  which  may  be  compared 
the  total  in  the  company's  estimate  of  $3,236,000  which  the  board  believes  should 
be  increased  by  the  substitution  of  four  locks  for  three,  with  a  corresponding  total 
of  $7,000,000  as  the  additional  allowance  of  50  per  cent  for  different  conditions  in 
Nicaragua  may  easily  be  increased. 

Canal  and  channel  dimensions  (locks) :  The  1890  estimates  were  based  upon  a  lock 
■width  of  70  feet.  The  next  announcement  of  the  width  occurred  in  the  chief  engi- 
neer's Chicago  paper,  in  which  he  states  that  the  width  has  been  increased  to  80  feet. 
In  his  recent  testimony,  on  page  73,  he  finds  no  objection  to  this  increase  from  70 
to  80  feet,  except  the  cost.  On  page  86,  referring  to  paragraph  12  of  the  board's 
report,  in  which  they  expressed  the  belief  that  all  locks  should  have  a  width  of  not 
less  than  80  feet,  if  it  be  intended  to  provide  for  the  passage  of  war  vessels,  the  chief 
engineer  states  that  this  suggestion  is  objectionable,  and  he  regards  it  unnecessary 
to  charge  the  enterprise  with  an  excess  of  commercial  capacity,  in  order  to  permit 
of  the  passage  of  a  few  war  vessels.  This  declaration,  made  in  hie  Chicago  paper  in 
1893,  and  repeated  statements  to  the  same  effect  in  the  publications  of  the  company. 

The  board  adheres  to  its  belief  that  80  feet  should  be  regarded  as  a  minijinim 
width,  in  view  of  the  use  by  the  United  States  Government  of  the  canal  to  facilitate 
the  movements  of  its  Navy  and  the  control  of  the  work  in  case  of  war. 


256  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

On  pages  58  and  65  of  his  testimony  the  cliief  engineer  states  the  dimensions  of  the 
Suez  Ciiual.  He  gives  the  depth  at  26  foet  and  the  width  as  less  than  100  feet.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  the  least  depth  in  the  Suez  Canal  at  this  time  is  27  feet  10  inches,  and 
for  the  most  part  it  is  29  feet  6  inches,  and  the  administration  proposes  an  ultimate 
depth  of  32  feet  10  inches. 

The  canal,  as  constructed,  was  72  feet  wide,  with  passing  places  excavated  at  inter- 
vals in  the  bank.  These  passing  places  have  since  been  eliminated  by  the  widening 
of  tlie  canal  to  110  feet,  this  widening  having  been  completed  with  the  exception  of 
10  or  12  miles.  It  is  to  be  noted,  however,  that  even  with  this  widening,  vessels 
traversing  the  Suez  Canal  are  not  permitted  to  pass  each  other  under  way.  When 
two  vessels  meet,  one  or  the  other  must  come  to  the  bank  and  tie  up  while  the  other 
moves  safely  by. 

In  order  to  provide  for  the  free  navigation  of  the  canal,  and  expedite  the  move- 
ments of  ships  by  rendering  it  unnecessary  for  them  to  stop,  the  administration,  in 
connection  with  the  increased  depth  to  32  feet  10  inches,  provides  for  a  widening  to 
216  feet  on  the  straight  stretches  of  the  canal,  and  on  curves  of  2J2  feet,  these  widths 
being  measured  on  the  bottom  of  the  canal.  With  these  widths  the  company  believe 
that  the  navigation  will  be  free  and  unobstructed. 

These  dimensions  are  to  be  compared  with  the  proposed  dimensions  of  the  Nicar- 
agua Canal,  with  bottom  widths  in  various  sections  ranging  from  120  feet  in  the  sea- 
level  portions  to  100  feet,  with  vertical  sides  in  the  rock  portions,  and  80  feet  at  several 
minor  isolated  sections.  The  depth  is  stated  as  about  30  feet  on  the  same  level, 
except  in  the  river,  where  for  30  miles  it  is  to  be  28  feet.  From  these  depths,  how- 
ever, as  has  been  previously  noticed,  must  be  deducted  the  variation  from  what  the 
chief  engineer  calls  the  average  summit  level,  to  provide  for  the  vertical  oscillations 
of  the  lake  sirrface.  He  estimated  these  oscillations  in  one  case  at  3  feet,  in  another 
portion  of  his  testimony  at  4  feet,  and  in  another  place  states  that  the  range  of  the 
lake  has  been  noted  as  10  feet. 

The  board  lias  found  reason  to  believe  that  the  lake  has  varied  so  much  as  14  feet, 
but  no  systematic  observations  have  ever  been  made  to  determine  the  lake  regimen, 
upon  which  depends  that  of  the  river. 

W^ith  a  range  of  4  feet,  the  28-foot  river  channel  becomes  but  a  26- foot  channel,  in 
which,  allowing  for  2  feet  as  a  minimum  below  the  keel  of  the  vessel,  nothing  deeper 
than  a  24-foot  ship  can  pass.  Should  tliis  range  nmount  to  so  much  as  5  feet,  the 
navigable  depth  becomes  23|  feet.  If  it  be  found  impossible  to  control  the  oscilla- 
tions of  the  lake  within  less  than  10  feet,  the  reduction  in  depth  in  the  channel  will 
be  5  feet,  and  nothing  deeper  than  a  21-foot  shiji  can  pass.  In  three  of  these  cases 
the  channel  would  be  impassable  for  war  ships,  as  well  as  for  the  increasing  dimen- 
sions of  trading  vessels,  which  experience  has  shown  can  be  more  economically  run 
with  large  dimensions  than  with  smaller. 

In  the  case  of  the  Suez  Canal,  WMth  the  minimum  depth  of  27  feet  10  inches  now 
existing  tlie  maximum  draft  of  vessels  permitted  in  the  sandy  bed  of  that  waterway 
is  25  feet  7  inches,  leaving  2  feet  and  3  inches  between  the  keel  of  the  vessel  and  the 
Band  bottom. 

Objection  is  made  to  the  board's  suggestion  that  the  width  of  the  deepened  chan- 
nel in  the  river  should  bo  increased  from  125  feet,  as  the  company  proposes,  to  not 
less  than  250  feet,  with  additional  widening  in  the  bends,  and  the  chief  engineer  con- 
tends that  in  our  consideration  of  this  subject  we  have  been  misled  by  our  acquaint- 
ance with  the  particulars  of  the  lake  navigation,  with  which,  apparently,  he  believes 
that  of  the  Nicaragua  Canal  is  not  justly  comparable. 

As  stated  in  the  board's  report,  the  nunimum  width  for  the  river  and  lake  channels 
on  the  lakes  is  300  feet,  increased  in  places  to  500  and  600  and  even  800  feet.  It 
should  be  observed  that  these  dimensions  were  fixed,  not  recentlj'^,  but  many  years 
before  the  lake  traffic  had  attained  its  present  proportions,  when  the  vessels  were 
much  smaller  than  now,  of  less  draft,  and  therefore  more  manageable  in  a  narrow 
channel,  and  as  a  whole  very  much  less  than  the  traftic  which  it  is  proposed  to  pro- 
vide for  in  the  case  of  the  Nicaragua  Canal. 

The  St.  Clair  Falls  Canal,  which  forms  the  exit  from  the  St.  Clair  River  into  the 
lake,  a  work  designed  and  executed  thirty  or  forty  years  ago,  has  a  width  between 
banks,  which  are  laid  out  straight  and  built  of  timber,  of  295  feet,  and  between 
these  vessels  are  restricted  to  a  speed  of  5  (?)  miles  an  hour,  and  are  not  jjcrmitted 
to  overtake  each  other.  It  is  quite  certain  that  in  the  case  of  the  Lake  Nicaragua 
channel,  bnilt  as  proposed  by  the  company,  withoirt  constructed  banks,  no  less 
width  than  300  feet  can  by  any  possibility  be  estimated  for,  and  the  maintenance  of 
this  or  any  navigable  width  will  require  the  continual  use  of  a  dredging  machine 
for  maintenance. 

The  company,  in  its  reference  to  this,  obscures  the  subject  by  calling  these  river 
channels  "canal,"  with  which,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  a  deepened  river  channel  without 
banks  can  not,  in  this  respect  be  compared,  and  it  is  to  be  observed  that  the  width 
of  river  channel  proi)08ed  by  the  board  is  little  in  excess  of  that  which  the  Intel- 


NICARAGUA   CANAL. 


257 


ligent  and  exi^erienced  mauageiuent  of  the  Suez  Canal  believe  to  be  necessary  for  an 
inclosed  channel  with  soft  bottom  and  -well  dolined-banks  and  no  current. 

With  reference  to  the  width  of  the  lake  channel  which  the  company  now  and 
again  terms  canal,  the  board  believes  that  it  has  adopted  an  e([nally  sonnd  and  con- 
servative view,  nor  is  it  believed  that  on  Lake  Nicaragua,  or  in  any  similar  situa- 
tion, a  channel  of  14  miles  can  be  laid  out  in  the  open  lake  through  the  material 
which  it  is  known  forms  the  bottom  of  the  lake  with  any  less  dimensions  than  those 
which  the  board  has  recommended. 

The  material  has  been  described  as  soft  mnd,  ranging  from  a  thick  pea  soup  at  the 
top  to  stiffer  material  below,  and  it  is  not  believed,  as  before  stated,  that  even  Mr. 
Bates's  magnificent  hydraulic  construction  could  make  a  cut  through  that  14  miles 
and  be  able  to  find  it  after  it  had  been  done. 

The  most  recent  proposition  in  this  country  for  providing  an  exit  for  commerce  by 
water  from  the  lakes  to  the  sea,  it  may  be  noted,  projects  a  channel  with  a  minimum 
width  of  300  feet. 

NICARAGUA  CANAL,  COMPARISON   OP  ESTIMATES. 

Company's  estimate  of  1895,  for  low-level  line,  with  board's  estimate  of  1895: 
The  increase  in  the  board's  estimate  arises,  first,  from  correction  of  errors  in  com- 
l)any's  estimate;  second,  from  provision  for  new  work,  such  as  stone-pitcliing  sites 
of  the  canal  in  certain  places,  railroad  track  and  trestle  around  Greytown  Harbor, 
wharves,  machine  shop,  and  workhouse  at  terminal  harbors,  provision  for  sheet 
piling  for  lock  foundations,  granite  quoins  for  locks,  steel  in  foundations  and  cul- 
verts, anchors  for  lock  gates,  back  filling  at  locks,  railroad  sidings,  stations,  turn- 
tables, etc.,  abutments  for  the  Ochoa  Dam,  sheet  piling  under  earth  fill  of  same, 
partial  diversion  of  San  Juan  River;  third,  other  items  of  increase  of  quantities; 
and,  fourth,  increase  of  unit  prices. 

Summary  for  entire  canal. 


Amonnt 
without  con- 
tingency allow- 
ance. 


Amount, 
including  20 
per  cent  con- 
tingencies. 


Correction  of  errors  in  company's  estimate 

New  work 

( )thor  increase  of  quantities 

1  ncrease  of  unit  prices 

Separate  allowance  for  hospital,  management,  and  engineeriD; 

Total  increase 

Company's  estimate  (low-level  line) 


$3,  579,  693. 80 

6, 133, 160.  00 

13,  5-.i5,  108.  45 

24,744,731.85 

5,  000,  000.  00 


$4,  295,  632. 56 

7,  359,  792.  00 

16,  230,  130.  14 

29,  693,  678. 22 

6,  000,  000. 00 


52,982,694.10 
58, 244, 717. 00 


63,  579,  232. 02 
69,  893,  660.  00 


111,227,411.00 


133, 472,  893. 00 


If  the  schedule  of  prices  of  1890  be  applied  to  the  canal  company's  quantities  of 
1895,  the  amount  of  the  estimate  will  be  $78,583,169. 

If  the  coini)any's  schedule  of  prices  of  1890  be  applied  to  the  board's 

quantities,  the  amount  will  be $117,  245,  792 

Board's  quantities  at  board's  prices 133,  472,  893 

Difference  between  company's  schedule  of  1890  and  board's  sched- 
ule makes  an  increase  of ■ 16, 127, 101 

Correction  of  errors  in  comi)utation  in  compamfs  estimate,  com2}ani/'s  schedule  of  1S90 

applied. 

San  Juan  River: 

1,313,100  cubic  yards  dredging,  at  30  cents $393,930.00 

1,025,387  cubic  yards  rock  excavation  under  water 5, 126, 935. 00 

5,  520,  865.  00 
Lake  Nicaragua: 

667,924  cubic  yards  dredging,  at  20  cents $133,584.80 

13,891  cubic  yards  rock  excavation  under  water,  at  $5.       69,  455.  00 


203,  039. 80 


5,  723,  904.  80 
25  per  cent 1,430,976.24 


Total 7,154,88L00 

N  C 17 


258 


NICARAGUA    CANAL. 


Table  of  tmit  prices  used  informer  estimates. 


Grey  town  Ilarbor : 

Stone  in  breakwater 

Dredging  and  excavation 

Canal : 

Dredging 

Earth  excavation 

Earth  embankment ... 

Kock  excavation 

Locks  and  dams : 

Kock  excavation 


Earth  excavation. 


Gravel  excavation 

Mud  excavation 

Earth  embankment 

Stone,  gravel,  and  clay  em- 
bankment - . . .' 


Hydraulic  concrete. 
Dressed  stone 


Kubble  masonry. 


Dry-stone  wall 

Puddle 

KockfiU 

Divide: 

Kock  excavation 

Earth  excavation 

Fen^ler  wales  per  foot. 
San  Francisco  Basin : 

Rock  excavation  . . 


Earth  excavation 

Earth  embankment 

Kock  All ;... 

Surface-soil  excavation. 

Mud  excavation 

Concrete 

Ochoa  Dam : 

Rockflll 

Earth,  etc.,  fill 

Stone  and  gravel  fill 


Earth,  etc.,  excavation 
Concrete 


San  Carlos : 

Eartli  excavation . . . 

Earth  embankment. 

Concrete 

San  Juan  Kiver : 

Rock  under  water. . 

Earth  under  water . 


Gravel,  sand,  etc., underwater 
Earth  excavation  above  water 


Childs. 


Nicaragua,  New  York, 
1852.  1B52. 


$5.  00 

e.  uu 

.80 
1.00 

.25 

30  to  1.00 

.25 

1 .  15  to  .  25 

.12 


1.50 

1.00 
.45 
.35 
.25 


.25 
.25 
.30 

1.00 
8.00 
7.00 
12.  00 
15.00 
16.50 
6.00 
7.00 


.20 


5.00 

2.50 

.(50 

1.00 


$3.00 

.20 
.30 


.10 
.12 

.50 
4.00 
4.00 


4.00 


.10 


Lull, 
1874. a 


$5.00 
.30 


10 
1.50 
1.25 

1.50 
L25 

.25 

.35 
.40 

1.00 
2.00 


Menocal, 
1885. b 


$1.50 
.25 

.20 
.40 


2.00 
cZ5.  UU 


1.00 
12.00 
8.00 


9.00 

4.00 
.75 


2.00 

1.00 

.20 

.50 


.35 


.40 


6.00 


.75 


1.50 

.40 


/      1.50 

\    C5.00 

.40 

/.50 


iO) 

.50 
2.00 

.50 
2.00 

.30 
8.00 
9.  UO 


Canal 
Co., 
1890. 


$1.50 
.20 


.20 

.40 


1.50 

.40 

4.00 

L50 

.40 
.30 
.40 
.50 


Canal 
Co., 
1895. 


6.00 


.50 
.25 


40 


5.00 
.40 


.40 


}   ■ 

j/ilO.OO 


.50 
.70 


.30 
.40 


1. 

/ilO. 


a  The  1874  prices  assume  cost  not  greater  than  in  the  United  States.    (See  p.  81  of  Lull's  Report.) 

b  The  1885  prices  assume  greater  cost  than  in  the  United  States.     (See  p.  39  of  RrjHirt.) 

cin  1874  stone  for  breakwater  was  to  come  from  Monkey  Point;  in  1885  from  Divide. 

d  Tunnel.    No  dams  in  east  division  in  1885. 

e  Tunnel. 

/Clay  embankment  in  1885  to  bo  rammed  in  9inch  layers. 

g  The  Ochoa  Dam  in  1885  to  be  of  concrete,  with  earth,  atone,  gravel,  etc.,  backing. 

ft  Concrete  in  1890-1895  for  abutments. 

i  For  diversion. 


NICARAGUA    CANAL. 
Table  of  unit  prices  used  informer  estimates — Coutinued. 


259 


Childs. 

Lnll, 

1874. a 

Meiincal, 
1885. b 

Canal 
Co., 
1890. 

Canal 
Co., 
1895. 

Bonrd, 
3895. 

Nicaragua, 
1852. 

New  Tork, 
1852. 

Lnlio: 

$5.00 

2.00 

.20 

{c} 

$5.00 

$3.00 

$5.00 

Gravel  (Irediiing 

$1.00 

.50 

2.00 

f           1.00 
I            1.50 
I            2.50 

}  .25  to.  60 

1.50 
.25 

$0.35 

.20 

1.00 

.70 

.75 

1.25 

.  13  to .  25 

.95 
.12 

$0.40 

.20 

.20 

.30 

Stone  filling  in  cribs  ......... 

Lake  to  Brito : 

]       1.50 
1      1.25 

/        .35 
\        .10 

1.50 
/        .30 
\         .40 

1      L50 
.40 

L25 
.40 

1.00 
.35 

L25 
.40 

Diver.siou  of  Lii.jan,  etc. : 

1.50 

}    ■'» 

L25 
.40 

.40 
.20 
.20 

L25 
.40 

.40 

.20 

.50 

6.00 

\dl.25 
/    LOO 

1.25 
40 

La  rior  Dam : 

Itookfill 

Locks : 

f      1.50 
\      L25 

}      2.00 

1.25 

}      L25 

.30 

.25 

8.00 
7.50 

1.50 
l.UO 
3.00 

17 

.12 
.15 

4.00 

4.00 

.40 

.30 

L25 

17 

.40 
f      7.00 
\      8.00 

.40 
1      6.00 

.40 

6.00 

e  10. 00 

.20 

.20 

1.50 

28 

.40 

6.00 

elO.OO 

.20 

.20 

1.50 

28 

40 

Brito  Harbor: 

.35 

.35 

4.00 

26 

.20 

.20 

1.50 

26 

25 

25 

1  50 

MininiuTQ  deptli  of  naviga- 
tion   feet.. 

30 

a  The  1874  prices  assume  cost  not  greater  than  in  the  United  States.     (See  p.  81  of  Lull's  Eeiiort.) 

b  Tlu^  1885  prices  as.sume  greater  cost  than  in  the  United  States.     (See  p.  39  of  Report.) 

cNo  rock  in  1885.     All  dredging  is  at  40  cents. 

dLdck  6. 

e  Above  lock  4. 

Note. — Columns  2  and  3  represent  Child's  prices  in  Nicaragua  and  New  Tork,  respectively. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  That  seems  to  finish  for  the  moment  the  notes  we 
had  i)repared  on  that  dredging  subject,  so  you  see  it  is  of  interest, 
We  tlid  this  simply  to  indicate  the  assiduity  with  which  we  endeavored 
to  get  authentic  data  to  guide  our  judgment  to  estimate  for  work  upon 
totally  unknown  conditions,  as  far  as  we  knew  how.  Now  for  Colonel 
Eives's  estimate.  I  would  like  to  read  that.  We  had  some  valuable 
data  from  Colonel  Rives,  a  gentleman  of  whom  probably  some  members 
of  the  committee  have  heard.  We  are  in  receipt  of  specific  and  detail 
information  from  him  in  the  form  of  a  letter  written  by  himself,  and 
being  in  doubt  as  to  whether  he  really  wished  to  be  quoted  in  this 
matter,  we  telegraphed  Colonel  Rives,  and  have  this  morning  the  follow- 
ing reply: 

Charlottesville,  Va.,  March  4, 1896. 

The  information  I  gave  you  in  reference  to  cost  of  engineering  wori<  on  Isthmus  ol 
Panama  is  based  on  eight  years'  experience  and  observation.  If  you  deem  it  of  value 
I  have  110  objection  to  your  making  use  of  it  as  requested  by  you.  My  telegraphic 
and  post-ofiBce  address  is  Cobham,  Albemarle  County,  Va. 

A.  L.  Rives. 

A.  Noble,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  This  is  an  interesting  letter.  The  first  part  gives 
the  rainfall  for  certain  years  taken  from  the  canal  records  at  Colon  on 
the  Atlantic  shore,  and  at  Gamboa,  two  thirds  of  the  way  across  the 
Istlimus,  and  at  Naos,  an  island  in  Panama  Bay,  for  the  years  1883, 
1884, 1885, 1886,  and  1887.  Then  it  gives  the  Panama  Railroad  observa- 
tions in  Colon  for  five  years  from  1890  to  1894.    I  have  summed  it  up 


!G0 


NICARAGUA    CANAL. 


in  a  general  way  by  stating  the  record  shows  the  rainfall  of  Panama  is 
abont  one-half  of  what  it  is  in  Nicaragna. 

Mr.  Stewart.  One-half  greater  at  Panama? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Actually  about  one-half  of  what  it  is  at  Nicaragua. 
Instead  of  25  feet  it  is  about  12J  feet;  something  like  that.  Here  is  the 
maximum  rainfall,  reported  here  at  Colon  of  155  inches,  while  at  Grey- 
town  it  is  29G. 

The  Chairman.  I  would  like  to  hear  the  whole  of  that  letter  read. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  stopped  at  Colon,  and  we  found  Colonel  Rives 
a  very  charming  and  hospitable  gentleman,  and  plumb  full  of  informa- 
tion, and  undoubtedly  the  most  honest  man  in  the  whole  of  Central 
America. 

[Letter.] 
Personal.]  Colon,  Augustus,  1S95. 

My  Dkar  Mr.  Noble:  I  have  been  so  ranch  occupied  of  late,  by  reason  of  tlio 
recent  labor  strike  upon  our  road  and  its  consequences,  that  I  have  been  unable  to 
reply  sooner  to  the  various  queries  made  by  you  on  the  occasion  of  your  visit  to  tlie 
Istlnniis. 

Tlie  rainfall  statistics  of  the  Isthmus  for  certain  years,  from  canal  records,  are  ;is 
follows: 


Year. 

Colon 

(Atlantic 

shore). 

Ganiljoa 

(two-tliirds 
across  Isth- 
mus). 

Nao8(islaiul 

in  Panama 

Bay). 

18S3                

Inches. 
115 
105 
146 

137 
155 

Inches. 
73 
94 
97 
103 
121 

Inches. 

37 

]  884                    

42 

]8S5          

43 

1886           

71 

1887             

53 

The  Panama  Railroad's  observations  in  Colon  for  five  years,  1890-1894,  show  a  rain- 
fall of  153  inches  in  1890,  125  inches  in  1891,  145  inches  in  1892,  131  inches  in  1893, 
and  154  inches  in  1894. 

Eighteen  hundred  and  eighty- three  and  1884  seem  to  have  been  exceptionally  dry 
years.     So  far  this  year  has  been  exceptionally  wet  in  Colon  and  dry  in  Panama. 

In  regard  to  labor,  the  following  statistics  throw  light  upon  the  suliject: 

Freight  handlers  in  Jamaica  receive  80  cents  gol<l  per  day;  in  Trinidad  and  St. 
Tliomas  the  same;  in  Barbados  slightly  less,  but  labor  there  is  scarce.  Fortune 
Islands  rather  more;  Curacoa  also.  In  Colombia  there  arc  laborers  receiving  decid- 
edly less,  owing  to  inferior  silver  and  pnper  currency.  Mr.  Gabriel  Obarrio,  an 
intelligent  and  well-posted  Colombian,  is  of  the  opinion  that  the  canal  comjtany  hero 
can  get  some  Colombian  labor  at  $1.20  silver  per  day— 52  cents  gohl — but  thinks  it 
will  require  $1..50  silver — 65  cents  gold— to  secure  a  large  supply.  It  is,  however,  a 
labor  unused  to  earthwork. 

In  the  Tropics  it  would  seem  scarcely  safe  to  estimate  the  average  output  of  one 
of  these  laborers  at  more  than  about  half  of  what  might  be  safely  counted  on  in  the 
United  States.  IJuring  the  flush  times  of  the  canal  company  $1.75  silver  per  day 
■was  i>aid  coinmon  lalior,  but  the  rate  of  exchange  at  the  time  made  the  daily  wages 
equivalent  to  $1.20  gold. 

The  foregoing  data  and  your  knowledge  of  the  situation  in  Nicaragua  will  enable 
you  to  arrive  at  conclusions.  Whatever  they  may  be,  however,  they  are  likely  to  be 
under  rather  than  over,  as  the  larger  the  number  of  workmen  needed  the  more  diffi- 
cult it  becomes  to  maintain  low  wages. 

lu  regard  to  the  figures  for  dift'erent  kinds  of  -work  in  my  "avant  projet"  for  tlie 
Panama  Canal,  they  were  arrived  at  by  taking  contractors'  experiences  in  different 
sections,  with  attendant  special  difficulties,  and  reducing  the  figures  by  obvious 
possible  economies — they  were  only  roughly  arrived  at. 

The  masonry  contemplated  was  analogous  to  that  described  in  the  Quaker  Dam 
project  for  tlie  Croton  waterworks,  and  tlie  figures  adopted  were  based  partly  upon 
experience  on  culverts  on  the  Isthmus  and  partly  upon  the  fact  that  such  work  in 
the  Tropics,  even  if  well  conducted,  generally  costs  double  as  much  as  in  the  United 
States. 


NICARAGUA.    CANAL.  261 

Contiuuous  heat,  excessive  rains,  consequent  sickness,  and  inferior  labor  consti- 
tute great  difficulties  in  carrying  on  important  works  rapidly  and  successfully  in  the 
Tropics,  and  render  close  estimates,  as  a  rule,  very  deceptive. 

Please  consider  this  imperfect  reply  to  your  queries  aa  unofficial. 

Very  truly,  yours,  A.  L.  KiVES. 

AxFRED  Noble,  P^sq.,  C.  E., 

1364  Monadnock  Block,  Chicago,  III. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  "Where  he  refers  to  his  "  avant  projet,"  that  refers 
in  fact  to  the  present  project  which  tlie  French  engineers  at  Panama 
are  investigating  and  working  over,  and  which  Cok)nel  Ifivcs  himself 
was  the  first  j^erson  to  put  in  an  engineering  form.  Tlie  idea  had  been 
snggested — the  engineers  and  the  Panama  company  were  all  adrift 
with  the  failure  of  their  sea-level  cnnal  at  Panama — and  Colonel  Eives 
being  there  and  professionally  interested  in  those  things,  took  the 
trouble  to  collate  the  data  for  the  first  time,  made  a  sketcli  and  draw- 
ing, showing  the  summit-level  proposition,  and  it  is  now  the  absolute 
basis  of  the  company's  present  project,  although  he  has  no  connection 
with  the  company  except  as  the  manager  of  the  Panama  Eailroad.  We 
telegraphed  Colonel  Kives  and  he  gave  us  authority  to  use  this  infor- 
mation, if  it  is  considered  to  be  of  any  value.  "VVe  are  very  glad  to 
have  it,  because  it  is  of  great  value  we  think. 

Now,  in  continuation  of  this  same  subject;  we  have  extracts  here  from 
a  published  volume  in  French  by  the  Panama  Canal  Company  of  the 
prices  which  they  indicate  as  the  basis  of  their  estimate  of  w^ork  down 
there,  and  they  surely  liave  had  some  i)rolonged  and  painful  experiences 
in  undertaking  work  at  Panama.  These  are  figures  which  Colonel 
Eives,  in  one  case,  and  Mr.  Napoleon  Bonapart  AVyse,  of  the  Panama 
Canal  Company,  in  the  other,  gather  independently,  and  we  have  sim- 
ply collated  them  and  put  them  in  parallel  columns.  You  will  under- 
stand we  are  talking  about  canal  construction,  which  is  analogous  in 
some  respects  to  the  Nicaragua  construction.  The  original  proposition 
was  a  sea-level  canal,  over  which  the  French  nation  nearly  broke  them- 
selves by  trying  to  do  it  with  the  very  insufiticient  information  which 
they  had. 

Mr.  Patterson.  That  was  a  sea-level  proposition? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes,  sir ;  and  the  cause  of  their  failure,  and  in  fact 
the  cause  of  their  undertaking  an  impracticable  proposition  was  because 
the  prior  investigation  was  absolutely  defective.  That  to  my  mind  was 
the  cause  of  the  failure  of  the  Panama  project.  They  had  a  totally 
insuiiticient  amount  of  practical  engineering  information  with  regard  to 
the  tremendous  project  which  they  started  to  execute. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Eight  there,  do  you  think  the  Panama  Canal  prac- 
ticable? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Indeed,  I  do  not  know,  sir.  1  would  be  very  glad 
if  I  could  answer  that  question  in  my  mind.  We  were  down  there,  and 
the  show  those  people  made  was  very  surprising.  We  went  there 
expecting  to  find  a  wreck,  with  the  plant  lying  along  the  canal  route, 
covered  with  mud  and  growth,  and  with  the  canal  washed  full  of  mud 
and  sand,  and  everything  in  ruin. 

We  found  a  beautiful  prospect,  with  10  or  15  miles  of  canal  which  we 
sounded  out  ourselves,  and  that  told  us  that  even  in  the  several  years 
the  work  had  been  abandoned  it  only  filled  up  a  meter  and  a  half,  4 
or  5  feet.  There  was  a  long  stretch  of  that.  We  found  the  line  of 
the  canal  covered  with  plant,  painted  and  kept  in  repair.  We  found 
great  dredges  with  watchmen  on  board  and  painted  and  white  leaded, 
and  men  painting  the  interior,  and  we  found  railroad  trains,  and  con- 


2G2  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

strnctioii  trains,  and  railroad  plant  in  an  immense  quantity,  and  we 
found  1,200  rtr  1,500  men  at  work  at  the  Oulebra  Pass  with  construction 
plant,  and  it  looked  like  a  very  prosperous  enterprise.  I  (lo  not  know 
what  are  the  Freucli  engineers'  recent  data,  but  since  tlie  tremendous 
failure  tbey  have  been  working  bard  to  get  information  wbicb  tliey  should 
have  had  in  the  first  place,  and  now  they  are  rejiresented  as  feeling  very 
confident  of  getting  through.  What  the  source  of  the  confidence  is  I 
do  not  know,  because  we  did  not  examine  their  data. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Do  they  propose  to  have  locks  in  this  canal'? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  is  a  summit-level  canal.  They  enter  for  15  or 
more  miles  on  sea  level,  and  then  come  three  locks,  bringing  them  up  to 
the  summit  level. 

]\Ir.  DooLiTTLE.  What  is  the  height  of  the  water? 

Colonel  LiTDLOW.  About  100  feet.  They  come  up  by  these  three  locks 
100  feet,  and  then  they  go  across  this  dangerous  Culebra  Mountain  at  a 
high  level,  and  then  lock  down  to  the  other  side  to  the  sea-level  section 
into  the  Bay  of  Panama. 

Mr.  Stewaet.  Does  that  beautiful  and  poetic  situation  at  Panama — 
do  you  think  they  started  out  without  any  design  or  objective  point, 
without  having  an  intelligent  engineering  design  and  i)rospectof  what 
they  were  going  to  arrive  at?  Do  you  think  they  arrived  at  this  beau- 
tiful and  poetic  situation  which  you  describe  at  Panama  without  any 
design"? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Do  you  mean  that  I  think  they  started  in  on  the 
execution  of  the  work  without  sufficient  preparation?  Uudoubtedly; 
it  is  notorious. 

Mr.  Stewart.  De  Lesseps  does  not  say  so? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  He  is  no  engineer,  if  you  please.  He  is  an  extraor- 
dinarily able  man,  and  a  very  marvelous  man,  but  he  is  no  more  an 
engineer  than  I  am  a  harpist. 

Mr.  Stewart.  Would  he  have  collected  and  associated  with  him 
men  of  engineering  skill  and  control  led  them  if 

Colonel  LuDLOAV.  He  had  the  most  extraordinary  faculty  of  persuad 
ing  and  dominating  other  people's  judgment  of  anybody  almost  in  the 
world. 

Mr.  Patterson.  In  other  words,  he  was  the  greatest  diplomatist 
and  lobbyist  of  his  age? 

Mr.  Stewart.  You  do  not  say  that  engineers  of  renown  and  ability 
can  be  controlled  by  a  man  like  De  Lesseps  ? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  say  Mr.  De  Lesseps  was  a  man  of  most  extraor- 
dinary faculty  for  dominating  a  man's  judgment. 

Mr.  Stewart.  You  do  not  think  American  engineers  could  be  domi- 
nated in  that  way? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  do  not  think  so,  not  if  you  give  them  half  a 
chance.  Americans  do  not  enthuse  as  the  Frenchmen  do.  You  get  a 
Frenchman  enthusiastic  and  you  can  convince  him  of  almost  anything. 

Mr.  Stewart.  Ihit  an  American  long  abroad  and  especially  in  France 
may  participate  in  that  enthusiasm? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  These  things  are  racial;  we  are  Anglo-Saxon  and 
they  are  not.  They  are  all  riglit,  but  they  made  a  beautiful  mess  at 
Panama.  Enthusiasm  does  not  take  the  place  of  hard  work  and 
preparation. 

Mr.  DooLTTTLE.  Was  this  gentleman,  whose  letter  you  have  just 
read,  down  at  Panama  under  Do  Lesseps? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  lie  is  manager  of  the  Panama  Railway  Company. 

Mr.  Doohttle.  Has  he  not  to  do  with  the  Panama  Canal? 


NICARAGUA    CANAL. 


2G3 


Colonel  Ludlow.  He  has  iiotliing  to  do  with  the  canal  company. 

Mr.  Patterson.  He  was  before  this  committee  in  regard  to  another 
matter  before  you  entered  Congress.    I  kuo\7  him  very  well. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  He  has  been  down  there  some  nu.mber  of  years. 

Mr.  Patterson.  General  Newton,  of  New  York,  was  president  of  the 
Panama  Kailroad  Company  and  Colonel  Rives  was  general  manager. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  Do  you  say  he  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  Panama 
Canal  Company? 

Mr.  Patterson.  No;  he  has  no  connection  with  it. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  That  is  perfectly  true. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  I  had  snpi)osed  he  had. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Being  down  there,  he  had  naturally  tlie  interest 
of  an  engineer  in  the  matter,  and  he  spoke  French  very  well,  but  had  no 
business  connections  with  this  canal.    His  business  was  railroading. 

Panama  Canal. —  Unit  price  per  cubic  yard  in  United  States  currency. 


Atlantic  level: 

Soft  dredging 

Excavation  between  Locks  1  and  3 

Harbor,  Colon 

Dredging  and  enlarging  existing  canal 

Samiiiit  level : 

Excavation  (eartli  and  rock) 

Eartb  excavation  (to  the  west  of  slope  Culebra). 

Rock-till  dam 

Pacific  level: 

Dredging  in  hard  material 

Dredging  large  amount 

Dredging  interior  harbor 

Excavation,  Locks  4  to  6 

Diversion  of  Cbagres  Kiver : 

I  )redging  in  homogeneous  material 

Locks : 

Tidal  locks,  excavation 

other  locks,  excavation 


Eives. 


$0.60 

1.20 

.60 

.60 

1.20 

'3.06 


.75 

.75 

1.35 


1. 20  to  1. 35 
1.  20  to  1.  35 


Wyse. 


fO.  37i 
.60' 
.60 
1.20 

.90 
.45 


.  60  to  1 

35 

45 

37J 

60 

1 

88 

1 

50 

Total  cxcavatiou,  56,000  cubic  meters,  at  an  average  price  of  75  cents 

(by  Wyse). $42,000,000 

Rives's  estimate : 

For  six  double  locks 20,000,000 

Rock  fill 3 

Railroad  diversion per  mile..  375,000 

Mr.  Stewart.  In  view  of  this  immense  discrepancy  in  figures  in  the 
Atlantic  level,  do  you  consider  these  figures  of  Colonel  Wyse  and  Mr. 
Rives  of  any  value  ? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  You  notice  it  is  in  one  special  locality.  There  is 
Colon  Harbor,  for  example,  where  Colonel  Rives  estimates  GO  cents,  and 
so  does  Mr.  Wyse,  and  the  discrepancy  disappears.  These  figures  we 
found  extraordinarily  interesting  and  valual)le  to  us  in  our  considera- 
tion of  this  subject,  as  they  would  be  to  anyone  who  had  the  same  matter 
to  consider. 

Now,  I  have  a  lot  of  data  for  the  committee  if  they  desire  a  further 
continuation  of  these  notes.  I  have  got  through  with  this  dredging. 
W^e  took  up  the  subject  of  earth  excavation  above  water. 

Mr.  Corliss.  I  suggest  that  if  you  do  not  want  to  personally  examine 
him  on  every  one  of  those  items  they  had  better  be  submitted. 

The  Chairman.  Without  they  would  be  useful  in  the  way  of  answer- 
ing further  interrogatories  1 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  beg  your  pardon  ? 


2CA  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

The  Chairman.  Perhaps  the  Colonel  wants  to  go  on  with  this  ques- 
tion. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  are  endeavoring  to  clear  up  the  basis  of  the 
estimates. 

Mr.  Stewart.  If  the  Colonel  does  not  care  to  read  further  1  should 
say  he  ought  to  have  the  privilege  of  printing  with  the  stenographer's 
notes  anything  further  he  desires. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  This  is  for  the  information  of  the  committee. 

Mr.  Corliss.  I  think  it  ouglit  to  be  printed. 

Mr.  Patterson.  As  far  as  I  am  concerned  it  is  an  important  subject, 
and  I  want  to  hear  the  Colonel  discuss  this  subject,  and  along  with  it 
submit  the  data. 

The  Chairman.  I  would  like  to  ask,  with  reference  to  the  figures  you 
have  used  there,  are  we  to  understand  those  are  prices  paid,  or  simply 
estimates  of  Colonel  Rives  and  jMr.  Wyse"? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  They  are  estimates  based  upon  a  prolonged  expe- 
rience on  the  Isthmus,  and  constitute  the  basis  of  their  judgment  of 
what  this  work  will  cost  under  physical  conditions,  which  in  several 
imi^ortaut  respects  are  favorably  comi)arable  with  those  which  exist  at 
Nicaragua. 

The  Chairman.  Do  you  understand  they  were  based  upon  prices 
which  have  been  i^aid? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes;  because  Colonel  Eives.  in  his  letter,  refers  to 
prices  which  have  been  paid  in  times  i:)ast,  and  that  is  used  as  the  basis 
of  the  judgment.  He  does  not  use  the  extravagant  prices  paid  during 
the  orgie  of  the  Panama  Canal. 

The  Chairman.  In  referring  more  particularly  to  these  estimates 
of  Ivives  and  Wyse,  were  they  based  upon  prices  paid  by  the  company, 
or  were  they  simply  their  estimates,  without  any  knowledge  of  what 
the  actual  cost  would  bo? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  They  were  based  updn  the  fullest  knowledge  of 
what  work  of  that  kind  had  cost  under  different  conditions  in  years 
past  in  connection  with  work  down  there  done  for  both  the  canal  and 
railroad,  when  he  had  close  and  accurate  knowledge  of  what  he  had  to 
pay  for  that  work  and  what  the  labor  was  worth  after  he  bought  it. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  Tliis  question  you  have  somewhat  covered,  but 
nevertheless  I  will  ask  it.  Actually,  what  minimum  responsible  price 
do  you  now  think  you  could  let  this  dredging  for?  If  you  could  not 
let  it  for  less  than  25  cents,  why  could  not  the  company  hire  competent 
men  to  build  and  operate  the  proper  plant  for  10  cents  per  cubic  yard? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  That  is  a  matter  of  business  detail,  and  it  does  not 
seem  to  me  to  have  anything  to  do  with  the  estimated  cost.  We  have 
expressed  our  judgment  as  to  what  that  work  will  cost,  and  we  have 
estimates  of  other  people  whom  we  regard  as  authorities,  and  who  are 
inclined  to  i)ut  a  price  higher  on  it  than  we  did. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Now,  if  we  found  responsible  contractors  who  would 
be  willing  to  take  that  dredging  down  at  Greytown  and  a  similar  char- 
acter of  dredging  along  the  line  of  the  canal  for  10  cents  a  yard,  of 
course  that  would  be  a  material  saving? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Of  course. 

Mr.  DoOLiTTLE.  A  very  large  saving  in  the  total? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Providing  he  did  it  at  that  price. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Provided,  of  course,  that  the  work  could  be  carried 
on  at  that  figure? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  You  would  undoubtedly  save  half  the  estimated 
cost  if  you  get  it  done  at  that  price. 


NICARAGUA   CANAL.  2fi5 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  IS'ow,  your  estimate  adds  20  per  cent  to  the  dredg- 
ing item.  Simple  sand,  clay,  etc,  are  known  to  exist.  Why  do  you 
consider  a  contingency  may  transpire  which  would  require  this  20  per 
cent  allowance  ?  If  you  have  the  field  of  material  before  you,  and  if 
you  know  the  length  of  time  which  is  going  to  be  required  to  remove  it, 
the  cost  of  creating  the  plant  and  all  the  engineering,  why  should  20 
per  cent  be  added? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  think  I  can  answer  that  in  a  word.  Experience 
has  shown  you  have  got  to  do  it.  With  all  the  organized  careful  esti- 
mating that  the  English  engineers  were  al)le  to  do  on  the  total  amount 
of  work  to  be  handled  on  their  Mancliester  Canal,  the  actual  amount 
taken  out  was  19  per  cent  greater  than  the  amount  they  estimated. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Nearly  one-fifth  greater? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes,  sir;  1  per  cent  more  would  have  been  exactly 
one- fifth. 

Mr.  Patterson.  In  other  words,  you  follow  the  rule  adopted  by 
engineers  of  adding  20  per  cent  to  the  estimated  cost? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  depends  upon  the  nature  of  the  work.  Some 
work  you  can  estimate  to  within  5  or  10  per  cent,  but  all  these  works 
of  great  magnitude,  involving  the  handling  of  materials,  and  particu- 
larly when  they  have  the  complications  due  to  water,  it  is  not  safe  to 
use  less  than  20  to  25  per  cent  contingency. 

Mr.  Stewart.  In  view  of  the  miscalculations  made  by  the  engineers 
on  the  Manchester  Canal  that  CQuld  be  avoided  in  estimating  on  the 
Nicaragua  Canal,  their  experience  would  enrich  the  calculators  on  the 
Nicaragua  Canal? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  enriches  the  wisdom  of  the  earth  and  guides  the 
judgment  of  engineers,  and  when  he  has  a  formidable  problem  to  solve 
ahead  of  him,  the  conditions  of  which  it  is  impossible  to  ascertain,  he 
puts  on  19  or  20  jjer  cent. 

Mr.  Stewart.  You  say  they  made  a  19  per  cent  mistake  at  Man- 
chester? 

Mr.  Patterson.  I  do  not  understand  Colonel  Ludlow  to  say  they 
made  a  mistake. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  stated  that  the  best  estimate  they  could  make  for 
the  total  amount  was  less  by  19  per  cent. 

Mr.  Stewart.  Well,  they  were  19  per  cent  out  of  the  way.  Why 
could  not  the  engineers  of  the  Nicaragua  Canal  be  19  per  cent  in  the 
way? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  do;  we  add  19  per  cent  on,  and  so  with  every 
other  enterprise. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  When  the  ground  is  known,  the  price  of  plant, 
oi)eration,  fuel,  etc.,  cau  be  carefully  figured  in  the  light  of  modern 
analysis  and  methods,  why  do  you  need  to  add  20  per  cent  to  such  plain 
items?  Is  not  your  estimate  for  dredging,  therefore,  unnecessarily 
excessive? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  That  is  simply  the  whole  ground  all  over  again. 
How  are  you  goin  g  to  answer  that  question  ?    How  would  you  answer  it  ? 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  I  am  not  answering  it;  I  am  not  an  engineer. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Will  you  read  that  again,  slow  like? 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  When  the  ground  is  known,  the  price  of  plant, 
operation,  fuel,  etc.,  can  be  carefully  figured  in  the  light  of  modern 
analysis  and  methods,  why  do  you  need  to  add  20  per  cent  to  such  plain 
items? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  The  premises  are  extraordinary;  nothing  of  the 
kind  is  known. 


2fi6  NICARAGUA   CANAL. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  And  can  not  be  to  a  skillful  engineer'? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Whether  he  is  skillful  or  unskillful  he  does  not  know 
it.  The  more  skillful  he  is  the  more  he  would  not  know  about  it.  The 
more  ignorant,  the  more  confident  he  would  be.  Wisdom  or  skill  does 
not  necessarily  make  a  man  less  cautious  or  prudent. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Mr.  Sherman  suggests,  Why  not  place  it  at  24  cents 
instead  of  25  cents? 

Colonel  LiTDLOW.  Because  we  thought  20  cents  would  do  it. 

Mr.  Sherman.  You  did  not  because  you  added  on  20  per  cenf? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  did  not  want  to  increase  this  unit  price  above 
what  we  believed  Avould  be  a  very  conservative  and  safe  figure.  As  I 
have  shown  you,  tlie  contractors  we  consulted,  and  other  gentlemen 
who  know,  gave  figures  if  anything  larger  than  ours,  and  I  do  not 
understand — Mr.  Noble  very  properly  calls  my  attention  to  the  fact 
that  this  contingency  is  a  general  item  applying  to  the  whole  work. 
There  may  be  some  portions  of  the  work  on  which  the  contingency  is 
excessive.  There  are  unquestionably  other  portions  of  the  work  on 
which  that  contingency  is  very  small,  and  in  reference  to  that  portion 
of  the  work  would  be  extravagantly  understated,  where  the  contingency 
might  run  to  50  or  100  per  cent. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Then  the  20  per  cent  is  rather  in  the  way  of  an 
average f 

Colonel  Ludlow.  What  else?  We  do  not  profess  to  know  what  the 
Ochoa  Dam  is  going  to  cost. 

INIr.  DOOLITTLE.  So  you  threw  in  this  20  per  cent  to  cover  all 
inequalities? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Is  it  not  true  that  Mr.  Menocal  in  his  estimate  threw 
in  20  j)er  cent? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Perfectly  true;  sometimes  20  and  sometimes  25. 

Mr.  Patterson.  I  understand  that  is  universal  among  engineers? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  In  work  of  this  kind. 

Mr.  Patterson.  And  the  difllculty  in  answering  a  question  about  it 
is  if  they  knew  all  these  things  and  knew  how  to  answer  all  these 
things,  knew  how  to  analyze  and  get  the  ultimate  analysis  of  every 
item  of  cost,  there  would  be  no  necessity  of  the  20  per  cent,  but  it  is 
simply  impossible,  and  so  they  add  in  the  20  per  cent? 

Mr.  Doolittle.  So  as  to  round  uj)  and  make  a  good  average? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  have  two  typical  works  of  this  character. 
We  have  the  Suez  and  the  Manchester  canals.  Take  the  Manchester 
Canal.  The  Manchester  Canal  is  provided  for  under  Parliamentary 
authorization  on  the  basis  of  .£0,000,000  for  the  engineer's  construction 
estimate.  I  am  speaking  in  round  numbers.  Six  million  pounds  is 
$30,000,000  for  35i  miles  of  canal.  The  incidental  expenses  of  con- 
struction, overhead  bridges,  rights  of -way,  and  compensation  to  private 
holdings,  covering  for  centuries  that  land  through  which  that  canal 
went,  increased  tlie  estimated  cost  of  the  project  from  £0,000,000,  which 
was  the  engineer's  estimate  loosely  stated,  to  £10,000,000  for  which 
Parliament  granted  the  authorization  they  procured.  Now,  the  actual 
cube  of  excavation  when  they  came  to  build  it  resulted  in  10  per  cent 
greater  than  the  estimated  cube,  among  other  things  because  the  river 
fioods  came  in  and  waslicd  a  whole  lot  of  stuff  in  there  after  they  had 
l)ainfully  excavated  it,  and  they  had  to  do  it  over  again.  Disasters  of 
that  kind  no  man  can  anticipate. 

The  actual  ex]>eiiditures  made  on  that  canal  are  now  rising — £15,- 
000,000,  or  $75,000,000.    Those  are  the  actual  outlays  on  an  original 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  267 

basis  of  $30,000,000,  construction  estimate,  and  the  150,000,000  basis, 
including  outside  expenses  as  well.  There  is  an  illustration  of  the 
Manchester  Canal,  executed  in  the  heart  of  England  and  with  the  best 
engineering  they  knew  how  to  get  for  it.  What  is  the  history  of  the 
Suez  Canal,  estimated  at  ^40,000,000?  A  canal  which  within  ten  years 
had  cost  $110,000,000  after  they  had  very  largely  reduced  the  cross 
sections  and  dimensions  of  it. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  There  were  very  many  elements  included  in  the 
Suez  Canal. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  There  is  the  element  of  contingencies  to  be  added 
on,  which  reached  ultimately  $110,000,000 — 250  per  cent,  instead  of  20. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Now,  I  want  to  ask  about  the  rock  to  be  used  in  the 
construction  of  the  jetty  Avork.  If  the  rock  used  for  the  puri)ose  of 
constructing  the  jetty  at  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia  lliver  could  be 
quarried  and  transported  110  miles  and  put  in  place  on  the  jetty  for$l 
per  cubic  yard,  how  do  you  justify  the  price  of  $1.50  per  cubic  yard  for 
simidy  transporting  the  rock  material  for  the  jetty  15  miles.  I  should 
like  to  know  how  that  hai)pened? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  have  to  open  at  the  outset  a  special  quarry, 
because  you  have  to  get  to  the  eastern  divide  before  you  can  begin  to 
quarry  it,  and  you  have  to  get  your  harbor  at  the  very  outset  long 
before  you  tackle  that  east  divide.  There  would  be  two  or  three  things 
before  you  can  get  rock  out  of  the  east  divide. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  The  rock  would  be  taken  out  of  the  divide? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  No. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  To  build  the  jetty  rock  work? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  No. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Where  would  you  take  it  from? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  From  a  place  near  Lock  No.  1,  where  there  is  a 
favorable  place  for  a  small  quarry. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  That  would  be  in  the  way  of  the  excavation  upon 
the  canal  I 

Colonel  Ludlow.  No;  that  is  j)ractically  dead  work,  and  the  com- 
pany's figures  now  are  about  the  same,  exactly  the  same  to  the  cent,  I 
believe.     There  is  no  difference  of  opinion  there. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Is  it  not  contemplated  in  the  company's  plan  that 
rock  shall  be  taken  out  of  the  canal  for  the  purpose  of  constructing 
these  jetties? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  There  is  no  lock  in  the  canal 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  I  mean  in  the  cut. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  There  is  in  the  east  divide  ultimately,  but  you  can 
not  do  that  at  the  outset,  and  the  painful  necessity  at  the  outset  is  that 
you  must  have  a  harbor.  There  is  the  great  criticism  and  objection,  if 
you  choose,  to  that  Nicaragua  route,  that  there  is  no  harbor  there,  you 
can  not  land  anything. 

My.  Doolittle.  How  would  these  conditions  apply  to  the  portions 
of  the  rock  to  be  taken  out  of  the  rock  cut? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  think  the  company's  price  is  about  the  same 
there.  I  think  the  canal  company's  price  of  1805  is  $1.50  and  our  price 
is  $1.50.  It  has  been  $1.50  right  along.  We  are  very  glad  to  have  our 
figures  the  same. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  In  view  of  this  question  where  the  rock  was  trans- 
ported a  distance  of  110  miles  to  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia  Eiver 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  is  impossible  to  transfer  the  whole  conditions 
existing  on  the  Pacific  Coast  in  Washington  down  to  the  conditions 
existing  on  the  Caribbean  coast  at  Nicaragua  and  compare  that  mag- 
nificent climate  and  these  illimitable  resources  up  in  that  country. 


268  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  The  resources  in  rock  are  a  good  deal  nearer  tlian 
110  miles  from  the  jetty? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  And  there  you  have  a  lot  of  dagos  and  Jamaica 
negroes,  and  the  climate  you  have  to  look  out  for.  The  whole  thing  is 
different.     How  much  rainfall  do  you  have  in  Washington? 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  One  hundred  and  ten  or  120  inches. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  And  at  Greytown  they  have  25  feet  of  water. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Annual  rainfall? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  mean  in  a  year  25  feet  of  downfall  of  water. 
What  is  the  height  of  that  ceiling?  About  18  feet,  I  should  say.  There 
is  a  body  of  water  50  per  cent  higher  than  this  arch  which  you  have  to 
take  account  of  in  a  year,  and  it  rains  every  day.  Down  there,  they  say, 
it  rains  every  day,  and  every  other  day  it  pours. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Now,  a  jjortion  of  the  expense  of  taking  this  rock 
out  is,  of  course,  figured  in  in  the  estimate  where  it  is  taken  out  of  the 
rock  cut? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  will  just  state  one  item,  since  this  matter  is 
broached.  Two  iuclies  of  rainfall  in  the  ITnited  States  will  drive  a  man 
oft"  work,  and  down  there  you  get  three  inches  in  an  hour. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  But  still  they  continue  to  work  right  along? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes;  some  of  the  men  do;  but  how  much  work  do  you 
get  out  of  them?  That  is  one  of  the  circumstances  which  depreciates 
the  value  of  labor  in  that  country. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Now,  if  a  portion  of  the  work  be  used  in  the  con- 
struction of  these  jetties,  is  it  not  estimated  for  in  the  cutting  of  rock — 
that  is,  the  quarryiug? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  That  is  the  $1.50  charge?  We  have  considered 
that  that  is  an  additional  charge. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Apparently. 

Colonel  Ludlow,  We  agreed  with  the  company. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE,  But  should  it  be  actually? 

Colonel  Ludlow,  We  and  the  company  agreed  it  should  be. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  I  do  not  care  about  the  company's  agreement  in 
this  connection. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes ;  we  say  it  ought  to  be  done,  or  we  would  not 
have  done  it. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  But  you  do  not  want  to  make  a  double  charge  for 
the  same  work  ? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Why  not? 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Why  should  you,  if  the  material  is  cut  at  the  rock 
cut — why  should  you  charge  for  quarryiug,  so  far  as  you  use  it 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  do  not  charge  for  (piarrying. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE  (continuing).  So  far  as  used  in  the  jetties  isconcerned? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  charge  for  taking  it  from  that  point. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Then  it  is  simply  a  matter  of  transportation  and 
dumping? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  There  is  a  certain  amount  of  handling. 

The  Chairman.  I  understood  you  to  say  the  rock  is  to  be  used  on 
the  jetty  before  you  reach  the  divide? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  A  portion.  I  am  perfectly  willing  to  meet  every 
question.  These  engineering  matters  are  extremely  interesting,  and 
also  improving. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  I  shall  be  very  glad  to  be  improved  in  this  direction. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  do  not  mean  that,  but  they  are  i^leasant  subjects 
of  discussion. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  They  are  vastly  interesting  to  me. 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  269 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes,  sir;  and  occasionally  useful.  If  a  piece  of 
rock  from  the  divide  cnt  after  you  iiave  quarried  it  and  paid  50  or  75 
cents  to  the  man  to  handle,  you  take  and  put  on  a  car  and  deliver  at  a 
jetty  12  or  13  more  miles  away,  you  have  got  to  bring  it  the  length  of 
that  track  and  you  have  got  to  handle  it  down  there.  IIow  are  you 
going  to  get  across  the  harbor  to  this  jetty  where  you  want  to  put  this 
piece  of  rock?  You  have  to  build  a  trestle  railroad  across  the  lagoon 
to  get  out  there.  You  have  to  have  a])paratus  on  the  pier  to  deliver 
the  stone,  you  have  to  follow  the  construction  out  with  your  railroad 
construction.     You  have  got  all  this  expense. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Does  not  this  estimate  for  quarrying  rock  for  use 
on  these  jetties  apply  to  rock  to  be  used  for  this  purpose  in  this  esti- 
mate?   I  so  understand  the  estimate. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  That  it  is  a  double  charge  on  the  quarrying;  not 
in  the  least. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  I  say  you  charge  for  the  rock  in  your  estimated 
cost  of  the  jetty  just  as  though  the  rock  was  quarried  for  use  on  those 
jetties,  do  you  not? 

Mr.  Noble.  You  see  that  portion  of  the  report  where  we  say  a  part 
of  the  rock  will  have  to  be  quarried  because  a  part  will  have  to  be  built 
before  the  divide  cut  is  commenced. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  I  have  not  been  able  to  understand  the  explana- 
tion. I  will  ask  you  again,  if  you  do  not  charge  for  the  quarrying  of  all 
the  rock  to  be  used  on  the  jetties? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  'No,  sir. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  What  portion  do  you  charge  for? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  The  preliminary  part  we  use  for  the  necessary  pre- 
liminary construction  of  the  jetty  before  you  tackle  the  east  divide  at 
all.    We  have  to  open  a  quarry,  and  that  is  dead  work. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Can  you  readily  state  there  the  amount  of  work  you 
charge  for  quarrying? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  guess  so.  I  think  the  quantities  are  stated  here — 
no;  I  guess  that  is  exactly  what  we  did;  we  made  a  mistake  there.  I 
admit  that.  For  the  preliminary  portion  we  did  not  separate  it,  and 
we  ought  to  have  charged  an  additional  price. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  And  then  for  the  other,  you  should  not  have  charged 
for  the  quarrying? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  No;  that  remains  just  the  same. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  I  do  not  so  understand  it. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  understand  it  this  way,  that  the  $1.50  charged 
for  the  rock  taken  from  the  divide  is  not  a  dujdication  of  the  original 
quarrying  charge  on  that  divide.  At  the  outset  we  have  to  take  rock, 
not  from  the  divide,  but  from  the  quarry,  which  we  have  to  open  and 
which  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  canal  construction  at  all,  and  we 
made  a  mistake  in  including  that  with  the  other  rock,  which  we  are  sui)- 
posed  to  haul  from  the  divide.  We  have  not  added  for  a  portion  of 
this  rock  an  extra  charge  for  quarrying. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  I  will  read  this.  Remembering  that  the  cost  of 
quarrying  and  putting  on  the  car  is  already  figured  in  the  divide-cut 
estimate,  why  should  it  cost  more  than  a  cent  a  mile,  or  $15  a  ton,  to 
transmit  this  material  from  the  rock  cut  to  the  jetty?  It  is  merely  a 
question  of  transportation  and  dumping  when  you  get  a  place  to  dump 
on  the  jetty. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Put  it  this  way.  How  much  do  you  pay  for  your 
rock  on  the  divide?  Eock  excavation,  $1.50,  recently  reduced  to  $1.25, 
and  we  put  it  at  $1.75.  What  is  the  matter  with  charging  $1.50  for 
putting  on  the  jetty? 


270  NICARAGUA   CANAL. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  The  question  is,  the  actual  expense  of  putting  it  on 
the  jetty  would  be  simply  a  matter  of  transportation,  having  your 
transportation  line. 

Colonel  LiDLOW.  And  handling  of  course,  and  a  portion  of  the  work 
is  we  have  to  open  up  a  quarry,  which  is  dead  work. 

Thereupon  the  committee  adjourned  to  meet  at  10  a.  m.  Tuesday, 
May  5,  1896. 


May  5,1896. 
The  committee  met  at  10.15  a.  m.,  Hon.  William  P.  Hepburn  in  the 
chair. 

STATEMENT  OF  COL.  WILLIAM  LUDLOW— Continued. 

]\[r.  DooLiTTLE.  Colonel  Ludlow,  after  leaving  Greytown  how  many 
days  were  the  Board  on  the  line  of  the  canal! 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  were  in  and  about  the  line  of  the  canal  from 
the  time  we  arrived  at  Greytown  until  we  left  Nicaragua.  I  say  that 
we  were  in  and  about  on  the  line  of  the  canal  all  the  time,  except  when 
we  made  a  trip  to  Managua. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  How  many  days  were  consumed  by  the  Board  along 
the  line  of  the  canal  after  leaving  Greytown? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  What  do  you  mean  by  the  "line  of  the  canal!" 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  You  have  stated  in  your  examination  that  you 
I)assed  over  the  entire  line  of  the  canal. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Ygs. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  I  ask  you  how  many  days  were  consumed  after  leav 
ing  Greytown ! 

Colonel  Ludlow.  The  minutes  of  the  Board  show  where  we  were 
every  day.     I  would  refer  to  the  oflicial  records. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Are  not  you  able  to  state  how  many  days? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  No  ;  nor  how  many  hours. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Ijust  asked  you  about  the  days. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  From  the  time  we  arrived  at  Nicaragua  until  we 
left  there  was  not  a  day,  or  part  of  a  day,  tliat  we  were  not  on  or  about 
the  line  of  the  canal,  except  when  we  went  to  Managua,  and  then  we 
took  in  Lake  Nicaragua. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Are  not  you  able  to  state,  from  any  data  you  have 
or  from  memory,  how  many  days  you  spent  along  the  line  of  this  canal 
after  your  party  left  Greytown? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  With  the  exception  of  the  trip  we  made  to  Mana- 
gua, we  were  on  and  about  the  line  of  tlie  canal  forty  days.  That  is 
what  we  were  there  for. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  How  many  days  were  you  traveling  over  the  route 
of  the  canal  after  leaving  Greytown? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  will  get  the  minutes  and  read  right  off  the  record 
to  you.     That  is  important? 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Yes,  sir;  it  is  to  me. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  spent  five  weeks  there,  on  and  about  the  line 
of  tlie  canal  and  Lake  Nicaragua  all  the  time,  in  the  investigation  of 
the  business  we  were  down  there  to  investigate.  As  to  the  actual  num- 
ber of  days  we  spent  on  the  line  of  the  canal — that  is  what  I  sup[)ose 
yon  are  trying  to  get  at — 1  would  ask  if  you  consider  the  river  a  part 
of  the  canal? 

Mr.  DoonTTLE.  Yes,  sir;  throughout  that  portion  of  it  that  is  to  be 
a  part  of  the  canal. 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  271 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Do  you  consider  the  lake  a  i)art  of  the  canal! 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Do  not  you? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Part  of  the  project,  not  of  the  canal.  No;  there 
is  no  canal  work  in  the  lake  any  more  than  at  the  construction  of  tlie 
Greytown  Harbor. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLB.  I  ask  you  a  simple  question:  How  many  days  were 
you  on  the  canal? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  will  try  to  tell  you  by  the  record.  I  will  read 
the  minutes  to  you  just  as  they  were  made  up.  There  is  only  one  way 
to  tell  the  facts,  and  that  is  to  tell  them. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Have  the  minutes  read  through  from  beginning  to 
end. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  If  you  want  me,  from  memory,  to  say  how  much 
time  was  spent  on  the  exact  line  of  the  canal,  I  will  ask  you,  in  tlie  first 
place,  to  tell  me  what  you  mean  by  the  line  of  the  canal? 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  As  an  engineer,  I  supposed  you  would  be  better 
able  to  state  what  the  line  of  the  canal  was  than  I,  who  am  not  an  engi- 
neer, and  have  never  visited  the  canal. 

Mr.  PATTERSON.  You  uscd  the  term  "line  of  the  canal."  While  ho 
has  a  definite  belief  as  to  what  the  line  of  the  canal  would  be,  he  simply 
differs  from  you  as  to  what  is  embraced  in  that  question. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Then  along  the  company's  projected  line  of  the 
canal. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Of  the  canal  only? 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Of  the  canal. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Do  you  include 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  I  include  the  whole  passage  from  Greytown  to  Brito. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Do  you  include  in  that  the  crest  line  of  the  embank- 
ments in  the  San  Francisco  basin? 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  I  certainly  do,  for  those  are  a  portion  of  the  com- 
pany's proposed  route  for  the  Nicaragua  Canal. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  You  are  quite  right,  sir. 

-Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Thank  you. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Then  we  are  clear  about  that.  That  was  our  own 
interpretation  of  it.  You  will  understand  for  a  portion  of  the  route, 
between  the  east  divide  and  the  Ochoa  Dam  and  Kiver,  there  are  two 
lines.  One  is  the  axis  line  of  the  canal  and  the  other  is  the  line  of  low 
hills  where  the  San  Francisco  embankments  are  to  be  built — for  the 
construction  of  these  great  basins. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Perhaps  I  can  simplify  the  matter. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  understand. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  You  did  not  at  first  and  have  not  since.  How  long 
from  the  time  you  arrived  at  Greytown  were  you  getting  over  to  the 
Pacific — how  long  before  you  reached  Brito,  taking  out  the  days  you 
stopped  for  transportation? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  will  follow  that  up. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Can't  you  give  the  number  of  days  without  doing 
that? 

Mr.  Patterson.  I  would  suggest 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  I  am  asking  the  question,  and  would  like  to  get  the 
answer  to  the  question. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Eemember,  this  was  last  summer.  We  have  made 
up  our  report  on  it,  and  it  never  occurred  to  us  to  figure  up  the  time 
spent  on  this  and  the  other  portion  of  the  route.  We  w^ere  all  the  time 
engaged  in  this  work. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  I  am  asking  you  how  much  time  you  were  passing 
over  the  line  of  the  canal '» 


272  NICARAGUA   CANAL. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  say  it  never  occurred  to  us  to  figure  it  up.  I  will 
figure  it  up  for  you,  if  it  is  of  any  value. 

Ml-  DooLiTTLE.  If  you  ]>lease. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  landed  at  Grey  town  first.  This  seems  to  be  a 
matter  of  considerable  importance,  and  it  is  well  to  go  definitely  to  the 
record.  1  will  get  it  and  read  the  minutes  right  through.  We  landed 
at  Grey  town  on  the  13lli  of  May;  anchored  off  Greytown  entrance  at 
12.30  p.  m. ;  landed  that  afternoon,  and  went  to  our  quarters  that  night, 
after  certain  formalities  with  local  authorities.  Ou  the  14th — the  next 
day — a  formal  call  was  made  on  the  governor. 

Mr.  DooLTT'i'LE.  You  can  omit  that.  State  when  you  left  Greytown 
to  go  to  Brito. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  You  do  not  want  the  first  week,  then? 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Not  at  all.  I  am  asking  you  about  the  length  of 
time  after  you  left  Greytown. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  am  i)erfectly  willing  to  give  you  the  information. 
This  is  a  sort  of  clerical  work,  not  engineering.  1  am  willing  to  do  it, 
however,  if  it  is  any  advantage  to  the  committee.  I  will  try  to  get 
away  from  Greytown.  We  spent  the  first  week  there  investigating 
the  harbor.  We  left  May  21  on  the  river  boat.  We  went  u}*  the  river, 
examining  the  lower  San  Juan  on  the  road,  to  its  junction  with  the 
Colorado.  This  is  up  the  main  stem  of  the  river — you  can  follow  it  up 
on  the  map  there  very  well — stopping  at  6  p.  m.  at  Orans.  At  8.30 
tied  up  for  the  night  to  the  right  bank,  below  the  mouth  of  the  San 
Carlos.     That  is  the  first  day's  journey. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Now,  can  you  state  when  you  reached  Brito? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Certainly.  You  want  to  know  that?  I  thought 
you  wanted  to  know  what  we  did. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  I  am  not  asking  you  what  you  did;  simply  the 
number  of  days  you  spent  in  traversing  that  isthmus. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Well,  we  went  up  the  river.  We  transferred  three 
or  four  times  at  the  various  rapids.  We  traveled  across  the  lake  uj)  to 
Managua,  and  back  again  to  Kivas.  On  the  morning  after  we  arrived 
at  Eivas  we  left  early.  Thursday,  May  30,  was  spent  in  examining  the 
Brito  harbor  and  vicinity. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  On  May  30? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  If  you  will  be  good  enough  to  make  the  necessary 
subtraction  it  will  give  yon  the  number  of  days  spent  in  that  i^ortion 
of  the  work. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  How  many  days  at  Managua,  and  how  many  at 
Eivas? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  No  days  at  Managua. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  What  time  was  consumed  on  the  line  of  the  pro- 
jected canal  at  this  place,  on  your  trij)? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  You  mean  Managua? 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Ivivas,  you  say. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Eivas  is  on  the  line — the  immediate  vicinity  of  the 
line — and  the  only  stopi>ing  i)lace  for  us.  We  had  no  other  recourse. 
We  left  Fort  San  Carlos  in  the  lake  steamer  Victoria  with  our  entire 
party.  Arrived  3.15  on  the  26th  of  May.  Now  I  have  got  it.  On  the 
2Gth  of  May,  at  11.30  p.  m.,  we  sailed  across  the  lake ;  started  across  the 
lake  for  San  Jorge,  which  is  in  the  immedate  vicinity  of  the  canal  route 
and  the  only  landing  there.  We  arrived  at  San  Jorge  9.20  a.  m.,  Mon- 
day, May  27.  We  landed  our  party  at  9.20  in  the  morning,  and  the 
board,  as  a  board,  together  with  Mr.  Menocal,  Dr.  Stitt,  and  the  secre- 
tary of  the  board,  continued  the  voyage  uj)  the  lake  from  San  Jorge  to 


.     NICARAGUA    CANAL.  273 

Granada,  and  arrived  at  Granada  at  3  p.m.  A  special  train,  by  the 
courtesy  of  the  Government,  took  the  board  to  Managua,  where  we 
arrived  at  8  p.  m.,  taking  quarters  at  the  hotel,  and  went  to  bed. 

This  was  the  27th.  The  next  morning  at  9  a.  m.  we  had  a  special 
audience  with  the  President  and  members  of  his  cabinet,  and  at  10.15 
the  special  train  returned  the  board  to  Granada,  and  at  11.30  a.  m.  the 
Victoria  sailed  again  for  San  Jorge,  down  the  lake,  arriving  at  6.40  p.  m. 
of  May  28.  The  board  proceeded  by  tramway  to  Eivas  and  to  quar- 
ters there  which  had  been  prepared  for  us  in  advance.  While  the 
board,  as  a  board,  was  proceeding  to  the  capital  of  the  State  to  pay 
our  respects  to  its  President,  the  party  were  preparing,  in  the  getting 
together  of  animals,  freight  carts  for  transportation,  the  construction 
of  a  camp,  and  other  preparations  for  the  examination  of  the  western 
division,  so  that,  so  far  as  the  time  of  the  board  was  concerned,  we  lost 
nothing  while  the  party  was  making  preparations. 

The  board  arrived  at  Eivas  on  the  evening  of  May  28,  and  on  the 
morning  of  Wednesday,  May  29,  we  left  Eivas  after  breakfast,  and  pro- 
ceeded with  the  animals,  etc.,  and  most  of  the  party,  to  the  hacienda 
near  Brito,  which  had  been  kindly  loaned  to  the  board  by  the  owner, 
and  where  we  were  quartered  for  tlu  night.  We  arrived  there  at  4.30 
p.  m.  If  I  remember  that  is  within  2  or  3  miles  of  Brito  Harbor. 
We  got  there  at  4.30  p.  m.,  after  rather  a  fatiguing  journey  in  the  hot 
sun.  The  next  day.  May  30,  we  occupied  the  entire  day  in  inspecting 
Brito  Harbor  and  vicinity,  making  very  important  and  valuable  obser- 
vations, as  we  believe,  and  if  the  committee  will  be  good  enough  to 
read  our  report,  I  think  that  they  will  agree  that  we  made  good  use 
of  our  time  there. 

I  have  answered  your  question,  sir;  that  is,  from  Greytown  to  Brito. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Now,  when  did  you  return  to  Greytown — on  what 
date? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  will  tell  you  that  presently.  We  arrived  at  Grey- 
town, going  back  on  the  evening  of  June  18,  at  5  p.  m.,  to  be  accurate, 
and  immediately  arranged  there  for  the  inspection  of  the  Lower  Colo- 
rado, of  the  junction,  and  the  entrance. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Can  not  you  tell  from  memory  or  easily  from  the 
data  before  you  how  many  days  you  were  traveling  between  May  30 
and  June  18  over  the  line  of  the  canal"? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  How  many  days  we  were  traveling! 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Yes,  sir. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Between  what  points'? 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Between  Brito  and  Greytown. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  On  the  return  journey"? 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Yes,  sir;  on  the  return  journey. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  can  tell  you  that  by  telling  what  we  did  every 
day.  It  might  be  interesting,  since  our  doings  there  have  been  so 
travestied.     Why  should  not  the  committee  know "? 

Mr.  Corliss.  Was  not  the  date  of  the  final  arrival  at  Greytown  the 
answer  to  thatf 

Colonel  Ludlow.  No;  he  seeks  to  know  what  we  were  doing  in  the 
interval. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  I  said,  how  many  days  were  you  making  the  actual 
journey  between  Brito  and  Greytown*? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  have  given  you  that. 

Mr.  Patterson.  I  would  like  to  have  the  minutes  put  in  the  record 
to  give  the  facts. 

The  Chairman.  The  Colonel  will  answer  the  question  in  his  own  way. 

N  C 18 


274  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  You  will  observe  tlie  minutes  are  a  part  of  the 
record  already  aud  oue  of  the  appendixes  of  the  report  of  the  board. 

Mr.  Patterson.  I  uuderstaud  that;  but  what  I  mean  by  the  record 
is  your  examination. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  do  not  know  any  way  to  tell  you  except  to  run 
over  it  from  Brito  to  Greytown,  Mr.  Doolittle.  We  took  the  entire  day 
of  May  30  inspecting  the  Brito  Harbor  and  vicinity,  and  returned  to  our 
quarters  at  the  hacienda.  The  next  day,  May  31,  we  examined  the  canal 
route  up  the  Eio  Grande  Eiver,  giving  especial  attention  to  the  La  Flor 
Dam,  and  camped  at  Paraiso,  which  is  an  intervening  point,  Avhere  we 
had  erected  a  subcamp  for  our  accommodation  between  the  La  Flor 
Dam  and  the  lake  on  the  western  division.  We  cami)ed  at  Paraiso. 
The  next  day  we  followed  the  canal  line  to  the  lake  shore,  examined  the 
proposed  site  for  the  dam,  etc.,  and  at  4  p.  m.  left  the  lake  shore  for 
Eivas,  where  we  arrived  at  7.  There  were  two  days  occupied  on  that 
western  division  route.  On  the  2d  of  June  the  party  was  engaged  in 
taking  levels  and  other  measurements  on  the  lake  shore.  We  were 
now  endeavoring  to  arrange  for  our  return  across  the  lake. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  Did  you  not  go  over  all  this  matter,  and  these 
details,  in  your  former  statement  to  the  committee  1 

Colonel  Ludlow.  No. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  That  is,  about  visiting  the  different  points  along 
the  line  of  the  canal? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Not  materially. 

Mr.  Bennett.  Mr.  Endicott  did  that,  Mr.  Doolittle. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  think  Mr.  Endicott  went  over  that. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  Of  course  I  do  not  care  to  take  up  the  time  of  the 
committee  in  getting  all  these  circumstances,  inasmuch  as  it  api)ears 
in  the  record.  I  thought  you  might  be  able  to  answer  simply  about  the 
number  of  days. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  understand,  of  course,  by  reason  of  the  fact  that 
the  statement  was  made  here  that  we  only  occupied  fourteen  days  on 
the  line  of  the  canal.  There  is  something  in  that.  You  can  figure  it 
fourteen  days,  or  figure  out  ten  days.  We  migbt  not  be  inspecting  the 
canal  when  we  were  inspecting  the  crest  line,  if  you  choose ;  might  not  be 
inspecting  the  canal  when  we  were  inspecting  the  river.  Perhaps  you 
would  exclude  the  time  we  were  examining  the  lake;  perhaps  a  visit  to  a 
quarry,  where  it  was  understood  stone  was  to  be  otjtained,  should  be 
excluded  from  the  days.  There  is  a  good  deal  of  that  sort  of  tiling.  I 
suppose  that  our  week  at  Greytown  surveying  the  harbor  and  getting 
all  the  information  we  could  about  this  was  not  on  the  line  of  the  canal. 
It  is  admitted  we  spent  a  day  at  Brito  examining  the  harbor,  and  that 
that  day  we  were  not  on  the  line  of  the  canal,  when  we  come  to  construe 
it  in  that  way.  That  is  why  I  ask  you  what  interiiretation  you  give  to 
the  words  "the  line  of  the  canal."  Do  you  mean  the  axis  of  the  canal? 
In  the  San  Francisco,  and  other  basins  the  axis  of  the  canal  crosses 
deep  basins — no  excavating  to  be  done.  The  engineering  is  on  tbe  crest 
line  as  much  as  two  and  a  half  miles  from  the  liiie  of  the  canal. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  It  w^ould  also  be  necessary  to  go  there? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  On  the  axis  of  the  canal?  Along  a  large  i)art  of 
that  is  a  swamj).  We  accepted  the  company's  data  as  to  that.  We 
would  say  it  was  a  swamp. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  Did  you  pass  over  the  entire  line  of  the  canal? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  The  whole  axis  of  the  canal  proper?  Surely  not. 
There  are  places  we  could  not  get  over.  You  can  not  get  over  the  line 
from  Greytown  to  the  foothills,  for  exanqjle,  because  it  runs  through 
a  swamp  where  no  man  can  go.    We  took  the  railroad. 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  275 

My.  Doolittle.  Above  tlie  swamp,  did  you  go  over  the  axis  of  the 
caual  all  the  way  from  the  foothills  to  the  lake"? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  There  are  parts  that  are  inaccessible.  We  went 
over  the  portion  Avhich  the  company  had  been  kind  enough  to  clear 
away  for  us;  and  where  there  were  two  lines  partly  cleared  the  canal 
line  had  been  almost  wholly  cleared,  the  crest  line,  which  is,  of  course, 
the  important  critical  line ;  there  was  no  need  for  us  to  abandon  a  critical 
engineering  location  to  go  to  look  at  the  bottom  of  a  swamp  that  was 
to  be  filled  with  water  40  feet  deep.  We  were  not  wasting  our  time 
there. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  With  reference  to  the  concrete  work,  you  have 
figured  out  $9.50  \)er  yard.  Now,  can  you  state  the  price  at  which 
cement  can  be  delivered  down  there'? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  will  tell  you  all  about  it,  sir,  as  far  as  we  know, 
and  we  got  the  best  and  most  authentic  information  we  could.  We  got 
this  information  in  order  to  save  the  time  of  the  committee.  We  spent 
our  own  time  in  collecting  it  and  getting  it  in  shape,  and  I  shall  be  very 
pleased  if  the  information  is  of  any  value  to  the  committee.  It  was  of 
immense  value  to  us.  We  reached  over  this  country  and  Europe  for 
information  on  this  subject.  I  will  read  the  notes  we  jirepared.  Of 
course,  this  is  not  complete,  but  perhaps  as  much  as  you  will  need. 

The  board's  estimate  for  the  cost  of  concrete  is  based  on  the  follow- 
ing particulars:  The  price  of  cement  was  furnished  by  the  New  York 
agent  of  one  of  the  principal  German  manufacturers.  The  agent  wrote 
full  particulars  to  Germany  and  had  the  reply  cabled.  The  prices  were 
$2.30  per  barrel,  f.  o.  b.,  Greytown,  and  $2.42,  f.  o.  b.,  Brito.  The  board 
endeavored  to  make  an  estimate  for  unloading,  lauding,  transporting, 
and  storing  this  material,  with  an  allowance  for  the  inevitable  waste  in 
that  dansi)  climate.  You  will  understand  there  are  no  harbor  facilities 
at  either  end.  The  result  was  that  we  adopted  a  unit  i)rice  of  $2.G0  at 
the  site  of  the  work  on  either  slope  as  the  probable  cost  of  the  cement 
to  be  used  in  that  concrete. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  Do  you  know  what  the  i)rice  of  Portland  cement  is 
delivered  in  Chicago,  or  did  you  know  at  the  time  you  made  up  this 
estimate? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes,  we  had  those  prices,  and  we  had  the  Govern- 
ment i)rice  of  cement  from  j)robably  twenty  points. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  Did  you  have  a  report  of  prices  of  cement  delivered 
on  the  Pacitic  Coast,  around  the  Horn? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Well,  I  got  it  direct  from  Government  officers  who 
had  imported  the  cement.     We  didn't  slight  it. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  Have  you  that  data  right  at  hand? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  supi)ose  we  have  twenty  figures  for  cement; 
whether  we  have  it  all  here,  I  don't  know.  What  was  the  price  of 
cement  on  the  Chicago  drainage?     (Addressing  Mr.  Noble.) 

Mr.  Nolle.  They  are  paying  now  from  $2.25  to  $2.85  for  a  good 
grade  (^f  imported  i)ortland  ceuient. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  The  sand  for  the  concrete  is  to  be  obtained  from 
the  beach  in  either  case,  for  tlie  eastern  division  from  Greytown  and 
for  the  western  division  from  Brito.  It  must  be  hauled  from  there;  it 
must  be  gatiiered,  transported,  and  delivered  where  required.  The 
estinuited  cost  at  the  site  of  the  work  is  55  cents  per  cubic  yard  on  the 
eastern  slope  and  50  cents  on  the  western  slope.  That  figure  includes 
collection,  transportation,  and  delivery  at  the  site  of  the  work.  That 
figure  is  not  unreasonable.  The  cost  of  sand  at  St.  Marys  Falls  Canal 
Lock  has  been  somewhat  more  than  40  cents  per  cubic  yard,  all  the  con- 


276  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

(litious  being  less  expensive,  the  point  of  collection  being  nearer  and 
the  expense  of  handling  considerably  less.  The  board's  estimate  is 
very  low,  comparatively. 

The  estimated  cost  of  broken  stones  delivered  at  the  site  of  the  work 
is  $1  on  the  Atlantic  slope  and  90  ceuts  ou  the  Pacific  slope.  This 
includes  the  cost  of  sorting  and  loading  the  stone  at  the  spoil  banks, 
transporting  it  several  miles  to  the  site  of  the  work,  unloading,  and 
crushing.  The  cost  for  the  same  item  at  the  St.  Marys  Falls  Canal 
has  been  between  80  and  90  cents.  You  will  observe  that  we  make 
what  we  believe  to  be  an  intelligent  and  proper  discrimination  between 
the  cost  of  the  work  on  the  eastern  division  and  the  cost  of  the  work 
on  the  western  division  in  favor  of  the  western  division,  a  difference 
of  10  cents,  on  account  of  the  more  favoiable  climatic  and  other  con- 
ditions that  exist  there. 

At  St.  IMarys  Falls  the  stone  is  obtained  within  1,000  feet  of  the  site 
and,  as  I  said,  cost  between  80  and  90  cents  per  cubic  yard.  We  did  not 
believe  that  if  it  cost  80  and  90  cents  at  St.  Marys  Falls  Canal  it  would 
cost  less  than  90  cents  at  Brito  or  $1  on  the  Greytown  side.  We  may 
have  made  mistakes  in  these  estimates,  but  the  trouble  is  they  are  too 
low.  Basing  an  estimate  for  a  single  cubic  yard  of  concrete  on  the  unit 
price  of  these  three  materials,  and  using  the  proportions  specified  to  us 
by  the  comi)any  as  being  those  which  tbey  expected  to  use,  viz,  cement 
1,  sand  2,  broken  stone  5,  we  have  the  following  tables  of  cost  of  the 
work : 

1.  Eastern  division : 

1.47b;irrels  of  cement,  at  $2.60 $3.82 

0.36  cubic  yards  of  sand,  at  55  cents 20 

0.91  cubic  yards  of  stone,  at  $1 91 

Timber  forms  (material  and  labor) 1.  00 

Plant 50 

Labor  (mixing  and  placing) 1. 50 

Total 7.93 

Contractor's  profit  (20  per  cent) 1.59 

Cost  for  1  cubic  yard  of  concrete 9.52 


Price  adopted  by  the  board 9.50 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  You  place  the  labor  used  in  mixing  and  placing  the 
concrete  at  $1.50.    That  would  be  by  machinery,  would  it  not? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Surely ;  it  is  done  by  hand,  but  in  large  quantities 
you  must  use  machinery  in  order  to  get  through,  but  some  work  can 
not  be  done  by  machinery.  That  is  on  the  eastern  division.  Total, 
$7.93;  contractor's  profit,  20  per  cent — making  $9.52. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  What  was  the  last  item?     I  didn't  catch  that. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Contractor's  i)rofit,  20  per  cent.  Now,  if  you  please, 
we  will  look  at  the  same  subject  in  the  western  division.  This  is  a 
very  interesting  subject,  and  you  will  observe  we  have  no  information 
from  the  company.  There  is  not  a  word  beyond  the  general  propor- 
tions, not  a  word  showing  how  that  price  they  used  was  obtained. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  The  cost  of  cement  is  not  made  up  for  estimates 
for  any  such  amount  of  work  as  this.  Is  that  based  on  the  total  amount 
of  cement  to  be  used  ? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Our  price  for  cement  was  quoted  at  a  wholesale 
rate. 

Mr.  Noble.  A  million  barrels  was  put  down  as  the  auantity,  and 
estimates  made  on  that  basis. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  The  wholesale  price  is  what  we  were  after.    We 


NICARAGUA   CANAL.  277 

were  not  buying  two  barrels.  Now  we  come  to  the  western  division. 
Witlioiit  reciting  all  of  the  particulars,  the  estimates  of  which  run  close 
to  those  for  the  eastern  division,  the  cost  of  concrete  on  the  Pacific 
side,  including  contractor's  profit,  adds  uj)  to  $9.08,  the  eastern  price 
being  $9.52. 

The  dilference  in  favor  of  the  western  division  was  due  to  the 
greater  cost  of  cement  being  more  than  offset  by  the  better  climatic 
conditions  on  the  Pacific  side.  The  detailed  estimate  figures  out  $9.08. 
Tlie  board  adopted  for  the  western  division  the  price  of  $9,  and  the 
committee  will  observe  that  in  both  these  cases  we  actually  adopted  as 
the  unit  price  a  figure  less  than  the  total  of  the  detailed  items  in  the 
estimate.  In  one  case  $9.52  became  $9.50,  in  the  other  case  $9.08  be- 
came $9.  Now,  what  supplements  this  estimate  or  supports  if?  As 
stated  in  the  report  of  the  board,  the  cost  of  concrete  of  the  same  pro- 
l)ortions  used  in  the  locks  of  the  Hennepin  Canal,  between  Chicago  and 
the  Mississippi  Eiver,  was  $9  per  cubic  yard.  That  is  in  this  country. 
It  is  not  far  from  Chicago,  witli  every  resource  for  transportation  at  hand. 

This  was  done  by  liired  labor,  and  includes  no  allowance  for  i^rofit;  it 
was  done  by  the  Government.  The  cost  is  greater  than  the  usual  cost 
of  concrete  of  these  proportions  in  the  United  States,  and  is  due  to 
the  great  care  and  thoroughness  with  which  the  work  was  done.  In 
connection  with  such  important  construction  as  is  in  question  in  this 
case — the  construction  of  a  lock  of  enormous  magnitude  almost  exclu- 
sively of  concrete — you  can  not  cheapen  your  material;  it  is  necessary 
to  have  the  best  you  can  get.  This  was  on  Government  work,  and  it 
came  to  $9  a  yard.  We  got  this  information  from  first  hand.  We  do 
not  believe  that  this  estimate,  although  an  unusually  large  one  for  the 
United  States,  can  by  any  possibility  be  safely  reduced  for  tlie  totally 
different  conditions,  much  more  difficult,  under  which  similar  work  must 
be  done  in  Nicaragua. 

The  cost  of  concrete  of  the  same  proportions  under  current  contracts 
at  the  Brooklyn  Navy- Yard  in  1895-90  was  $7.70  to  $8.50  i)er  cubic 
yard.  Eeference  has  been  umde  to  the  low  cost  of  concrete — $4.57  per 
cubic  yard — in  the  locks  of  the  Coosa  Eiver.  It  will  be  interesting  to 
note  why  this  special  case  has  been  used  by  the  company  as  a  means  of 
criticising  the  board's  estimate,  when  the  Brooklyn  Navy- Yard  figures 
were  so  much  more  accessible,  and  when  the  work  done  at  the  Brooklyn 
Navy- Yard  is  so  much  nearer  compai-able  to  the  other.  It  was  smaller, 
and  it  was  taken.  In  the  locks  in  the  Coosa  River,  in  Alabama,  referred 
to  by  the  company,  the  low  price  is  due,  first,  to  the  proportions  used, 
which  are  1  volume  of  cf^ment,  3  of  sand  (instead  of  2),  and  5^  of  broken 
stone,  instead  of  5. 

You  will  observe  that  that  proportion  very  much  reduces  the  price  of 
your  cement,  which  is  the  expensive  ingredient,  and  in  doing  that  you 
have  correspondingly  diminished  the  strength  of  your  concrete.  That 
is  one  reason  why  that  is  cheaper.  Second,  the  unusually  low  price  of 
labor  in  that  particular  section  of  the  South.  It  is  in  the  heart  of  the 
pine  region,  and  you  can  get  labor,  such  as  it  is,  for  $1  a  day.  Third, 
the  low  cost  of  the  staging  and  molds  and  the  timberwork,  the  work 
being  located  in  the  heart  of  the  Southern  pine  region,  and  the  timber 
obtained  from  the  vicinity  suitable  for  the  purpose.  Another  item  is 
the  omission  of  any  charge  for  the  use  of  plant.  There  is  no  charge 
for  that,  and  if  there  were  there  is  no  profit  in  it.  It  is  a  Govern- 
numt  job,  and  no  contractor's  profit.  After  you  have  added  up  these 
differences  you  will  have  the  price  quite  conformable  with  the  other. 
Furthermore,  these  locks  were  constructed  in  connection  with  navi- 


278  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

gatioii  on  a  river  of  inferior  importance,  and  in  no  sense  comparable 
to  tlie  tremendous  constructions  estimated  for  in  Nicaragua. 

jSTow,  there  are  other  items.  We  brouglit  together  all  the  information 
we  could;  wrote  out  to  California;  we  got  the  cost  of  the  concrete  in 
the  San  Mateo  Dam  in  California.  The  cost  of  the  concrete  in  that 
dam  is  $8. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  At  what  time  was  that  put  in  t 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  do  not  recall. 

Mr.  Noble.  AVithin  the  last  few  years;  I  do  not  remember  the  exact 
year. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  The  San  Mateo  Dam,  in  California,  a  very  large 
construction  of  concrete,  cost,  per  cubic  yard,  $8,  as  I  have  said,  the 
proportions  used  being  1  volume  of  cement,  2  volumes  of  sand,  and  G 
volumes  of  broken  stone. 

The  Letaloo  Dam,  in  Australia,  contains  upward  of  00,000  cubic 
yards  of  concrete,  costing  110.16  per  cubic  yard,  labor  being  $1.08 
I)er  day. 

The  large  amount  of  concrete  used  at  the  Cascade  Locks,  in  Oregon, 
cost  $8  per  cubic  yard,  with  no  allowance  for  profit,  the  work  being  done 
directly  by  the  Government.  The  proportions  for  a  large  part  of  this 
work  were  1  volume  of  cement,  3  volumes  of  sand,  and  0  volumes  of 
broken  stone;  for  another  large  portion,  1  volume  of  cement,  4  vol- 
umes of  s.md,  and  8  volumes  of  stone.  A  small  i)roportion  of  the  total 
amount  was  composed  of  1  volume  of  cement,  2  volumes  of  sand,  and 
4  volumes  of  broken  stone,  the  average  containing  a  smaller  proportion 
of  cement  than  is  proposed  for  the  Nicaragua  Canal. 

The  cost  of  concrete  in  San  Francisco  IIarl)or,  in  ])roportions  of  1,  3, 
and  8,  was  $5.22,  with  no  allowance  for  plant  or  profit.  This  concrete 
contained,  relatively,  a  snmll  proportion  of  cement. 

Now,  we  will  take,  if  you  please,  the  contract  price  for  concrete 
recently  made  at  the  Port  Eoyal  dry  dock,  on  the  Atlantic  Coast.  The 
proportions  are  1,  2,  and  5,  the  same  as  you  are  considering.  Wlmt 
was  the  price?     Eight  dollars  a  cubic  yard. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  That  is  the  actual  cost? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes,  sir;  the  actual  cost.  Now,  at  the  Puget 
Sound  dry  dock  the  proportions  are  1,  2,  and  4,  where  gravel  is  used 
instead  of  broken  stone,  a  material  which  may  be  regarded  as  some- 
what inferior  to  broken  stone,  the  cost  is  $7  per  cubic  yard. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  That  is  the  contractor's  price,  is  it  not? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  is  the  price  the  Government  has  to  pay  to  get  it 
done. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  It  is  the  contractor's  price? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  presume  it  is  a  contract  matter  there. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  Yes;  I  know  that  particular  case  myself. 

Colonel  Ltidlow.  Then  that  is  all  straight,  it  is  $7  a  yard.  The 
contractor  is  going  to  charge  a  profit. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  That  cement  is  brought  around  the  Horn? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  imagine  you  can  get  it  cheaper  there  almost  than 
you  can  on  the  Atlantic  Coast,  for  some  reasons.  I  know,  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  by  looking  over  the  subject,  that  a  ship  in  going  to  San  Francisco, 
or  some  port  on  the  Pacific  Coast,  brought  with  her  as  ballast  a  lot  ot 
cement  and  disposed  of  it  at  a  very  low  figure,  thereby  lessening  the 
expenses  of  her  voyage. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  I  would  observe  right  here  that  these  contractors 
made  an  exceedingly  handsome  profit. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  am  glad  they  made  something.  They  do  not 
always.    You  would  not  have  them  lose? 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  279 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Not  being  warm  friends  of  mine,  I  would  not. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  every  employer  of  labor,  such 
as  an  engineer  or  Government  officer,  dislikes  it  extremely  if  tbex)rices 
are  let  so  low  that  the  contractor  is  going  to  lose  money  on  the  job. 
In  such  a  case  he  requires  too  much  looking  after.  We  would  rather 
he  would  have  a  reasonable  profit,  as  the  temptation  then  is  not  so  great 
to  cut  corners  off. 

In  connection  with  the  $7  concrete  at  the  Puget  Sound  dry  dock, 
some  of  it  cost  $9.90,  where  it  was  difiticalt  to  handle,  and  in  a  very 
higli  i^roportion  of  1,  IJ,  and  3  the  cost  was  actually  $13.58  per  cubic 
yard. 

At  the  New  York  dry  dock  (contract  of  1890),  the  proportion  being  1, 
3,  and  5,  the  contract  price  was  $9  per  cubic  yard.  That  was  in  New 
York.  What  should  it  then  be  in  Nicaragua?  We  said  we  would  call 
it  $9.50  there,  because  we  believed  witli  due  econouiy  and  manage- 
ment and  intelligent  business  arrangements  it  can  be  done  at  that 
price,  but  we  won't  be  sure  of  it.  Under  the  contracts  of  1805  the 
Brooklyn  price  averaged  about  $7.70  per  cubic  yard,  and  in  189G  the 
work  whicli  is  now  being  executed  under  the  direction  of  the  civil  engi- 
neer of  tlie  Navy,  who  is  iu  charge  of  that  work,  and  really  ought  to 
know  something  about  it,  Mr.  Menocal,  the  price  i^  about  $8.50  per 
cubic  yard.  Tlie  proportions  in  both  cases  being  1,  2,  and  5,  the  same 
material  that  is  in  question  in  this  case.  That  seems  to  me  to  be  all 
the  data  v.e  have  on  this  question. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Then  I  would  hke  to  ask  you  a  further  question.  I 
see  that  for  back  filling  you  charge  70  cents  per  cubic  yard.  Now,  I 
want  to  ask  you  how  it  is  this  filling  would  cost  that  much  when  the 
earth  has  been  removed  in  the  cut  and  the  excavations  made? 

Colonel  IjUDLOAV.  Why,  it  is  for  putting  the  material  back  and 
solidifying  it. 

Mr.  booLiTTLE.  That  is,  with  modern  appliances  and  every  facility  in 
the  way  of  transportation,  and  all  that? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Always  with  the  very  latest  methods,  yes,  sir; 
utilizing  electricity  even  if  found  advisable.  The  material  has  to  be 
filled  in"  behind  these  walls  and  there  solidified  for  the  safety  of  the  lock 
construction.  It  is  not  invidious,  but  if  you  will  look  at  the  estimates  of 
the  canal  company  you  will  fiud  no  estimate  for  that.  They  do  not 
expect  to  back  fill  it,  or  else  they  expect  someone  to  do  it  for  nothing. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  What  could  responsible  cou tractors  be  engaged  for 
in  this  country  to  do  that  kind  of  work  when  the  excavation  was  going 
on  and  the  materials  are  being  loaded  on  cars,  and  when  the  transport- 
ing of  it  is  a  simple  matter? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  You  know  back  filling  goes  in  after  you  get  your 
lock  built.  You  can  not  do  the  back  filling  while  you  are  making  the 
excavation. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  But  I  mean  elsewhere — in  that  immediate  vicinity, 
as  a  good  manager  of  such  work  would  carry  it  on,  to  the  best  advantage? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  He  would  naturally  use  the  material  he  took  out, 
but  he  would  have  to  take  it  out  first. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  But  there  is  other  cutting  going  on  in  that  imme- 
diate vicinity. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  In  the  lock? 

Mr,  DOOLITTLE.  Yes,  sir;  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  lock.  Oi 
course  1  understand  in  organizing  a  work  you  would  organize  it  to  use 
the  material  most  advantageously. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  If  I  am  not  mistaken  I  think  1  have  some  notes  on 


2S0  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

that.  Yon  can  nndorstand  ho\Y  difficult  it  is  to  go  into  all  these  details 
here  which  we  had  to  construct  for  ourselves.  Seventy  cents  is  a  very 
good  price;  I  mean  it  is  a  fair  price  to  take.  There  is  no  (luestion  about 
it  that  our  prices  are  all  low. 

INIr.  DooLiTTLB.  Leaving  a  good,  big  margin,  would  it  not,  for 
contractors'? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  About  20  per  cent. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Do  not  you  think  this  kind  of  work  could  be  per- 
formed, under  a  well-organized  scheme,  in  this  country  very  much 
cheaper  ? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  think  so;  yes. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  For  half  the  money  or  less? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  depends  on  the  circumstances — the  facilities  for 
handling  the  material.  You  have  not  the  facilities  there  except  what 
you  create,  and  the  cost  of  creation  has  got  to  go  in  the  unit  price. 

]Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  But  this  construction  and  its  organizing  contem- 
plates all  that. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes;  the  creation  of  these  facilities;  but  who  is 
going  to  pay  for  them,  the  company  or  the  contractors'?  Who  is  going 
to  pay  for  if?  Y^ou  can  not  eliminate  an  item  of  cost  by  saying  the  con- 
tractor is  going  to  do  it.  Is  he  going  to  charge  you  for  it?  And  here 
is  an  important  point:  When  you  sandpaper  these  things  down,  the 
conditions  down  there  are  practically  unknown.  There  is  not  a  con- 
tractor, with  the  possible  exception  of  Mr.  Treat,  who  understands  the 
conditions  there. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  You  regard  him  as  comiietenf? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Perfectly,  on  all  these  subjects  which  he  has  inves- 
tigated and  expresses  an  opinion  on.  I  mean  his  own  opinion,  mind 
you,  what  he  knows  from  personal  knowledge,  not  as  he  is  quoted. 
Take  his  own  statement  of  what  he  thinks.  Independent  of  that,  what  1 
want  to  say  is  this,  that  the  extravagance  of  the  work  comes  in  when 
you  are  unable  to  define  the  condition  so  accurately  that  the  contractor 
shall  know  what  he  is  to  do,  and  see  in  his  own  mind  how  he  is  going 
to  do  it.  The  more  uncertainty  you  leave  about  the  work,  and  how  it 
shall  be  handled,  the  more  the  contractor  is  going  to  charge  you  for  it, 
and  he  is  going  to  charge  you  for  the  risk. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Those  elements  of  risk  would  be  eliminated,  would 
they  not,  so  far  as  the  minds  of  the  contractors  were  concerned,  before 
the  contract  was  taken  or  the  work  undertaken "? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  You  say  they  will  be  eliminated.  How*?  By  infor- 
mation from  the  company?  No  such  information  exists.  By  personal 
experience  of  the  contractor'?     Who  is  he'? 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  You  would  somewhat  have  it  eliminated  by  carrying 
out  a  line  of  detailed  surveys? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Oh,  surveys;  always  surveys.  I  would  get  the 
information,  Mr.  Doolittle,  that  is  necessary  to  have  to  enable  the  con- 
tractor to  bid  intelligently  on  his  work ;  that  is,  on  the  actual  statement 
of  the  situation  as  it  has  been  found  to  be. 
Mr.  Doolittle.  Would. not  the  contractor  inform  himself? 
Colonel  Ludlow.  We  want  him  to  do  it.  If  he  would  not,  he  would 
be  unwise. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  Do  you  think  any  contractor  would  rely  implicitly 
and  exclusively  on  the  estimates  given  him  by  the  engineer  of  the 
Government? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  On  the  estimates — the  statements  of  fact.  That  is 
what  they  do  every  day  in  this  country,  because,  as  a  rule,  the  Gov- 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  281 

eminent  in  works  of  this  class  malcos  as  exhanstive  an  examination  as 
tliey  are  able  to  make.  Mind  you,  no  contractor  can  go  down  tliere  and 
take  a  contract  to  make  tliat  3-mile  cut. 

Mr.  UooLiTTLE.  Is  not  it  usual  for  contractors,  before  entering  upon 
a  work  of  this  kind,  to  have  these  details  ascertained  by  their  own 
engineers? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  In  advance? 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  In  advance  of  taking  the  contracts. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Not  always. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Is  it  not  usually? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  ISTo;  not  necessarily.  If  it  were  a  question  of 
dredging  a  harbor  or  deepening  a  river  channel,  or  making  a  21-foot 
channel  on  the  lakes  where  milhons  of  cubic  yards  have  to  be  exca- 
A^ated,  the  Government  ascertains  the  quantity  of  the  several  kinds  of 
material  there  and  then  shows  the  contractor  the  drawings  and  states 
to  him  what  is  there.  Then  the  contractor  bids.  He  does  not  make 
borings.  He  accepts  the  data  that  the  Grovernment  furnishes.  If  you 
want  a  contractor  to  bid  on  the  construction  of  that  eastern  divide,  a 
3-mile  cut  through  a  rocky  range,  you  do  not  exi)ect  him  to  make  bor- 
ings there,  which  would  take  him  iierhaps  a  year  to  execute,  at  his 
own  expense,  and  costing  him  probably  thousands  and  thousands  of 
dollars.  It  is  your  business  to  furnish  to  him  that  information  wliich 
he  can  not  readily  obtain. 

Supplementing  that,  suppose  that  he  goes  down  to  Nicaragua  and 
stands  out  there  in  a  3-inch  shower  and  thereby  sees  what  effect  such 
a  rain  would  have  on  a  gang  of  workmen  in  a  pit  with  the  water  up  to 
their  necks  and  how  much  itw^ould  cost  to  have  the  necessary  pumping 
arrangements  to  keep  them  from  drowning.  He  is  going  to  look  after 
the  construction  of  railroad  and  tracks.  He  is  going  to  have  his  pump- 
ing apparatus  provided  for,  make  provision  for  his  hospitals  and  where 
they  will  be  and  how  accessible  to  the  work,  and  he  is  going  to  get  his 
provisions  and  tools.  That  is  the  kind  of  work  he  is  going  to  do;  but 
we  would  not  expect  him  to  bore  for  300  or  400  feet  through  that  mountain 
range  there  to  ascertain  the  nature  of  the  material.  He  expects  to  be 
told  that.  Suppose  you  want  to  make  a  contract  to  bridge  the  San 
Juan  liiver,  to  make  a  channel  in  the  San  Juan  River  for  the  30  miles 
of  it 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  I  suppose  in  a  case  of  that  kind  you  would  be  gov- 
erned by  tlie  character  of  material  as  it  turned  out  to  be? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  As  it  turned  out  to  be.  The  provision  is  different 
according  to  the  different  material.  If  there  is  a  very  large  quantity 
of  rock  he  is  going  to  have  a  very  large  quantity  of  rock-drilling  plant, 
but  if  there  is  a  large  quantity  of  soft  material  and  little  rock  he  might 
make  shift  to  take  out  that  rock,  and  his  principal  arrangement  and 
l)]ant  would  be  to  take  out  this  softer  material. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Now,  I  think  we  have  gone  over  this  pretty  thor- 
oughly. I  would  like  to  ask  you  a  question  or  two  more  on  a  different 
matter.  Will  you  kindly  state  to  the  committee  when  you  began  this 
engineering  work  in  a  practical  way?  I  do  not  think  you  had  an  oppor- 
tunity to  go  over  that  when  you  made  your  first  statement. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  What  engineering  work  I  have  done?  I  was  grad- 
uated in  the  corps  of  engineers  in  June,  1864,  from  West  Point,  and  I 
was  commissioned  at  that  time.  You  want  the  uneventful  history? 
How  far  back  shall  I  go  ? 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  At  the  beginning. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  was  born  on  the  27th  of  November,  1843. 


282  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Oil,  no. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Tlie  hour  I  can  not  give  yon. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLB.  Did  you  begin  engineering  work  tlieul 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  do  not  remember.  It's  a  long  time  ago.  Ou  that 
point  my  information  is  secondliand.  I  am  assured,  however,  that  it  was 
a  fact  I  began  then. 

INIr.  DooLiTTLE.  I  do  not  know  what  it  was 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  presume  it  was  some  form  of  hydraulics.  I  have 
no  doubt  I  engaged  in  the  ])umping  business  then  and  have  been  in  it 
ever  since.  Since  then  I  have  put  suction  dredges  to  work  ou  ocean 
bars. 

IMr.  DOOLITTLE.  Is  that  an  answer  to  the  question? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Perfectly.  I  would  much  rather  that  you  would 
get  it  from  the  Adjutant-General's  record.  It  would  be  much  more  com- 
plimentary than  my  record,  as  I  would  give  it.  What  do  you  want  me 
to  tell  you  about — my  engineering  experience? 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Yes,  sir. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Well,  I  was  doing  a  little  engineering  during  the 
war — military  engineering — mounting  guns,  building  bridges,  batteries, 
and  defenses.  You  do  not  wanttliat,  do  you  i?  You  might  have  to  use 
it  down  in  Nicaragua,  but  it  is  not  included  in  the  programme.  After 
the  war  I  was  in  command  of  an  engineer  company  at  Jefferson  Bar- 
racks, and  was  practicing  them  as  engineers  in  engineering  work  of 
various  kinds,  more  particularly,  of  course,  in  military  engineering  and 
the  construction  of  bridges.  I  do  not  remember  all  I  did.  I  wish  I 
had  the  record.  I  have  been  pretty  busy,  in  a  general  way.  After  that 
I  was  ordered  East  as  assistant  to  General  Gilmore,  a  very  eminent 
engineer  and  engineer  officer,  and  was  his  assistant  for  five  years  in 
charge  of  fortification  work  and  river  and  harbor  improvement  work, 
jiarticularly  through  the  South  Atlantic  from  St.  Augustine,  on  the 
(joast  of  Florida,  through  Georgia,  South  Carolina,  and  part  of  JSTorth 
Carolina,  and  particularly  in  New  York  Harbor  fortification  work  and 
river  and  harbor  work  at  that  time.  I  got  together  this  hydraulic 
dredge,  as  Mr.  Bates  will  tell  you.  It  is  quite  interesting.  I  spent  a 
summer  in  getting  it  together.  It  was  used  on  the  bar  at  St.  Johns, 
Fla.,  for  the  first  time.  We  were  able  to  dredge  off  an  ocean  bar  there 
at  a  less  price  than  for  still-water  dredging.  I  was  with  General  Gil- 
more  five  years,  surveying  and  planning  various  harbors  and  other 
work. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  If  you  will  just  state  your  engineering  experience 

Colonel  Ludlow.  You  see,  it  has  been  pretty  much  all  the  time  engi- 
neering experience  with  me.  For  three  years  1  was  in  Dakota  on 
extensive  reconnoissance  work. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  For  what  purpose? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  The  development  of  the  country.  I  was  with 
General  Custer  on  an  expedition  to  the  Black  Hills,  on  General  Terry's 
staff.  I  was  the  engineer  of  the  Stanley  expedition,  locating  sites; 
among  other  things,  locating  the  present  site  of  the  crossing  of  the 
Yellowstone  Eiver  at  the  Northern  Pacific  Railroad.  That  w^as  simply 
incidental.  I  was  engaged  in  finding  latitude  and  longitude  and  that 
sort  of  work.  Later,  F  was  ordered  b^ast,  to  Philadelphia,  and  was  first 
assistant  to  Colonel  Kurtz,  of  the  Engineers,  on  the  improvement  of 
Delaware  River  and  the  construction  of -works  in  that  distii(;t,  including 
the  pier  at  the  entrance  to  Delaware  Bay,  and  incidentally  a  survey 
which  I  made  myself— a  boat  survey — of  the  greater  portion  of  the 
Delaware  River,  from  Trenton  down. 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  283 

Later,  I  was  in  charge  of  the  work  myself.  Then  1  was  transferred 
to  AN^ashiugtou  for  the  lirst  time  as  the  engineer  secretary  of  the  Light- 
Honse  Board,  and  had  charge  of  matters  of  lighthouse  construction 
which  wore  going  on  under  the  direction  of  the  LightHouse  Establish- 
ment. Then,  later  than  that,  I  was  for  three  years  in  charge  of  the 
Phihidelphia  water  department,  by  a  remarkable  combination  of  circum- 
stances, in  which  the  city  councils  of  Philadelphia  elected  me  to  that 
position,  and  by  virtue  of  a  joint  resolution  of  Congress,  which  is  with- 
out precedent.  1  was  authorized  to  accept  the  place  without  the  loss 
of  my  commission,  and  the  War  Department  gave  me  three  years'  leave 
of  absence  enabling  me  to  discharge  the  duties  of  the  place.  When  that 
tliree  years  was  up,  my  leave  of  absence  havin.g  expired,  1  came  to 
W  ashington.  I  was  two  years  Engineer  Commissioner  of  the  District 
of  Columbia,  and  then  for  a  short  time  I  was  in  charge  of  the  light- 
house district  in  Philadelphia. 

Then  for  five  years  1  was  in  Detroit,  where  I  had  charge  of  all  the 
light-house  work  in  the  upper  lakes  north  and  west  of  Detroit,  and  also 
a  number  of  lake  harbors  in  Lake  IMicliigan  and  Lake  Huron.  Then  I 
was  sent  to  London  as  military  attache  of  the  embassy,  and  while  there 
was  detailed  to  come  here,  and  was  sent  to  Nicaragua  with  two  other 
gentlemen  to  investigate  this  interevSting  Nicaragua  Canal  project. 
Then,  having  returned  to  London,  I  received  instructions  to  make  an 
investigation  of  tlie  European  ship  canals,  and  later  was  instructed  to 
return  to  this  country  and  report  to  the  Adjutant-Ocneral  and  Chief 
Engineer.  Now  I  am  trying  to  obey  those  orders  and  report  at  my 
station  at  Tompkinsville,  N.  Y.,  as  engineer  of  the  Tliird  ligiit-house 
district  and  with  other  engineering  work  in  that  vicinity.  Meanwhile, 
I  am  discussing  engineering  points  here. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  I  think  that  is  all  I  care  to  ask  the  Colonel. 

Mr.  Pattetjson.  I  have  no  cpiestious  to  ask. 

The  Chairman.  Does  any  other  member  of  the  committee  desire  to 
ask  any  questions? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  If  there  are  no  questions,  there  is  a  large  amount 
of  valuable  information  I  have  here  which  I  would  be  glad  to  give  to 
the  committee  on  the  subject  of  unit  i)rices.  In  connec^tion  with  the 
rock  for  the  breakwater  pier  at  Greytowu  which  we  had  under  consid- 
eration yesterday  and  j\Ir.  Doolittle  asked  some  questions  about,  I  may 
state  that  $1.50  was  the  price  for  the  delivery  of  that  rock  into  the  Grey- 
town  pier.  We  did  not  go  closely  into  a  computation  of  that  kind;  I 
admit  we  did  not  figure  it  up  item  by  item,  as  we  did  other  things, 
because  it  was  a  comparatively  small  thing.  Furthermore,  we  found 
that  we  were  prepared  to  accept  the  company's  own  estimate  of  the  cost 
of  that  work,  and,  inasmuch  as  the  company  has  not  been  accused  of 
unduly  expanding  its  items  of  cost,  we  iDeiieve  that  we  would  not  be 
guilt::-  of  any  extravagance  in  accei)ting  their  figures.  Shall  I  proceed 
\vil!i  the  discussion  of  the  unit  prices? 

The  Chairman.  Yes,  sir. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  The  subject  of  earth  excavation  above  water  is  a 
diffuult  matter.     There  is  a  very  large  quantity  of  that. 

The  Chairman.  Would  you  be  willing  to  submit  that  and  have  it 
])riuted  with  your  testimony,  or  do  you  prefer  to  read  it? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  really  do  not  care  about  reading  it.  It  is  all  of 
the  same  nature.  The  only  object  in  reading  it  would  be  to  let  the  com- 
mittee see  that  there  is  not  any  source  of  information  open  to  us  that 
we  did  not  draw  upon,  from  Dan  to  Beersheba,  from  London  to  San 
Francisco,  sending  even  to  India  to  get  treatises  on  the  construction  of 
dams  there,  all  of  which  is  extremely  interesting. 


284  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

Those  India  dams  have  no  resemblance  to  this  Ochoa  Dam,  as  the 
illustrations  will  show,  if  you  care  to  look  at  them.  We  wanted  to 
know  about  the  history  of  rock-filled  dams,  and  we  scoured  the  country 
for  information  on  that  subject.  That  is  the  way  we  investigated  this 
matter,  and  the  records  show  the  attempts  we  made  to  get  from  every 
source  information  that  was  authentic.  Now,  I  have  here  drawings  of 
rock-filled  dams  in  the  West,  which  would  be  interesting  to  anybody  to 
examine.  They  are  cross  sections,  showing  how  they  were  built  in  the 
dry — built  on  rock  foundations,  with  plank  sheathing  on  the  front;  built 
of  concrete  cores  on  solid  rock,  with  sheet-steel  cores,  and  built  with 
crib  work.  The  drawings  are  very  interesting.  I  will  arrange  to  leave 
them  for  the  use  of  the  committee,  if  they  desire  to  examine  them;  and 
I  have  also  a  roll  of  drawings  of  the  Nicaragua  Canal,  showing  the 
half  dozen  maps  of  Grey  town  Harbor,  all  of  which  are  extremely  inter- 
esting and  running  over  the  whole  route  of  the  canal  from  Grey  town 
to  Brito.    We  have  all  that  complete. 

Mr.  Patterson.  These  maps  were  constructed  by  the  board? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  They  were  made  in  the  board's  office  in  New  York. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Under  the  supervision  of  the  board? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  They  are  mainly  taken  as  transcripts  from  the  maps 
in  the  canal  company's  office.  That  was  our  main  source  of  informa- 
tion, you  know,  but  there  are  some  things  which  were  quite  original 
with  us.  For  example,  the  survey  of  Greytown  Harbor.  That  is  new 
and  complete.  We  could  not  have  done  it  ourselves.  We  had  no  time, 
but  the  officers  of  the  U.  S.  S.  Aloitf/omeri/j  in  accordance  with  the  in- 
structions of  the  Secretary  of  War,  made  the  offshore  part  of  the  work 
after  we  gave  them  their  base  line  to  start  from.  They  did  the  boat 
work  afterwards.  That  map  of  Greytown  Harbor  is  the  most  com- 
plete ever  made. 

Mr.  Patterson.  I  would  like  to  ask  if  it  is  the  purpose  of  the  board 
to  submit  all  these  details  to  the  committee? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  has  been,  sir.  This  is  part  of  the  matter  sub- 
mitted to  the  President  in  our  report.  It  is  i^art  of  the  official  record. 
This  is  only  a  retained  copy  I  kept  for  my  own  use,  the  originals  having 
been  turned  in. 

Mr.  Patterson.  And  with  the  Public  Printer  at  this  time. 

Mr.  Bartlett.  Does  that  include  the  paper  you  are  about  to  read 
now? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Oh,  no,  sir;  this  paper  was  specially  prepared  for 
the  use  of  this  committee. 

Mr.  Patterson.  You  have  spoken  of  your  experience  as  an  engi- 
neer.    Lieutenant  Endicott,  I  believe,  belongs  to  the  Navy? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  believe  he  is  the  senior  officer  in  his  corps  of  the 
Navy. 

Mr.  Patterson.  What  is  his  standing  as  engineer? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  am  not  familiar  with  the  detailed  history  of  the 
civil  engineers  in  the  Navy,  but  the  mere  fact  that  he  is  their  senior 
officer,  and  detailed  at  Washington  itself,  at  the  headqujirters  in  the 
Department,  is  a  sufficient  indication  of  the  consideration  which  attaches 
to  him  in  the  Navy  Department. 

Mr.  Patterson.  He  is  the  senior  engineer  in  the  service? 

Mr.  Endicott.  A.8  far  as  detail  goes.  There  is  one  senior  to  me  on 
the  list  in  date  of  appointment. 

Mr.  Patterson.  You  have  represented,  and  do  now  represent,  no 
other  interest  except  the  public  service  in  this  matter? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes,  sir;  and  the  general  engineering  interest  of 
the  country.    We  had  no  other  object  in  view. 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  285 

Mr.  Patterson.  Have  no  interest  eitlicr  iu  tlie  canal  or  against  the 
canal  ? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  What  kind  of  interest? 

Mr.  Patterson.  Personal  interest? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  ISTotliing  except  as  a  professional  investigator; 
notliing  except  as  an  engineer.  I  have  no  pecuniary  or  commercial 
interest  of  any  Icincl.  My  j)redilection,  as  I  have  told  the  committee, 
is  entirely  favorable  to  the  project,  you  understand.  I  would  like  to 
see  the  American  engineers  have  a  chance  to  show  what  they  can  do 
toward  building  a  ship  canal.  The  Frenchmen  and  the  Englishmen 
and  the  Germans  have  all  had  a  chance,  and  now  I  would  like  to  see 
what  the  American  engineers  can  do. 

Thereupon  the  committee  took  a  recess  until  2  p.  m. 

The  committee  met  pursuant  to  adjournment,  at  2  j).  m.,  Hon.  Wil- 
liam P.  Hej)burn  in  the  chair. 

STATEMENT   OF   HON.   WARNER   MILLER. 

Mr.  Miller.  Mr.  Chairman  and  gentlemen  of  the  committee,  1 
should  not  have  asked  to  be  heard  again  upon  this  question  had  it  not 
been  that  several  statements  that  I  made  when  I  was  last  here  have 
been  called  in  question  by  Colonel  Ludlow,  particularly  my  statement 
in  regard  to  Mr.  Treat's  offer  to  build  the  entire  canal,  and  also  the  state- 
ment that  I  made  in  regard  to  Engineer  Donaldson,  of  London,  and 
also  some  other  matters  which  I  had  stated  in  regard  to  the  prospective 
cost  of  this  work.  I  assumed  that  my  mere  statement  of  what  those 
gentlemen  had  told  me  and  had  done  would  be  accepted  by  the  mem- 
bers of  this  committee,  who  know  me  personally,  without  any  further 
proof,  but  as  the  truth  of  my  statement  has  been  called  in  question  I 
have  come  here  to-day,  I  think,  fully  prei^ared  to  prove  the  truth  of  what 
I  stated  when  I  was  last  here. 

Before  proceeding  to  the  documentary  evidence  which  I  have,  I  have 
a  few  words  to  say  in  regard  to  what  I  have  heard  since  I  have  been 
here  for  two  days  and  what  I  have  heard  of  the  statement  as  given  by 
Colonel  Ludlow.  Before  yesterday  I  had  assumed  that  engineering 
was  an  exact  science,  as  much  so  as  any  science  could  possibly  be,  but 
if  the  statement  made  here  yesterday  as  to  the  methods  by  which  the 
estimates  were  arrived  at  in  the  matter  before  the  committee,  and  also 
in  regard  to  other  great  works  throughout  the  world,  then  the  science 
of  engineering  becomes  chiefly  a  science  of  guessing,  and  the  engineer- 
ing schools  at  West  Point  and  elsewhere  ought  to  be  designated 
"  schools  for  the  teaching  of  skillful  guessing." 

If  that  be  true,  then,  Mr.  Chairman,  I  think  I  am  just  as  comi)etent 
a  guesser  as  anybody  else.  One  of  the  first  things  I  ever  did  to  make 
money  was  to  reconstruct  a  damaged  canal.  There  Avas  no  engineer  in 
that  part  of  the  country,  and  I  went  over  it  and  made  a  guess  as  to 
what  it  would  cost  and  made  a  bid  on  it.  The  bid  was  accepted,  and  I 
completed  the  work  and  made  a  very  handsome  sum  of  money.  I  have 
been  successful  thus  far  in  life  in  making  close  guesses  as  to  building 
mills,  hydraulics,  dams,  and  that  sort  of  thing. 

But,  Mr.  Chairman,  I  do  not  believe  that  the  science  of  engineering 
is  mere  guesswork.  Now,  what  are  the  facts  *?  A  company  properly 
organized  sent  out  a  corps  of  engineers  to  make  surveys  and  examina- 
tions in  Nicaragua.  They  spent  a  greater  part  of  the  time  for  three  or 
four  years  engaged  in  that  work.  The  comj^any  never  claimed  that  all 
the  engineering  work  was  done  and  that  nothing  more  was  to  be  known, 


286  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

for  everybody  knows  tbat  iu  the  construction  of  a  great  work  like  tliat 
the  engiueerini:-,  after  the  plans  are  made,  is  one  of  the  great  items  of 
expense,  continuing  through  the  entire  work.  But  the  company  thought 
that  they  had  obtained  information  enough  to  enable  them  to  make  a 
close  estimate  of  what  the  work  would  cost,  and  also  to  present  plans 
which  when  submitted  to  competent  engineers  would  meet  with  their 
approval,  and  it  was  this  work  in  which  the  company  engaged  for  sev- 
eral years  before  it  began  any  construction  whatever.  It  did  submit 
these  plans  to  several  engineers,  as  I  have  stated  here  before,  and  they 
were  approved. 

The  action  of  the  Government  in  regard  to  this  matter  I  need  not  go 
over  again,  because  1  went  over  that  very  lully  at  my  last  hearing. 
Some  enemies  of  the  enterprise  and  some  of  its  friends  thought  it  wise 
to  have  a  further  investigation  by  a  commission  of  engineers,  and  for 
that  purpose  they  appropriated  $L>0,00()  and  authorized  the  President  to 
appoint  them  and  send  tbem  down.  lie  did  so.  The  company  met  the 
commission  with  perfect  frankness  and  spent  nearly  $20,000  in  putting 
the  work  in  sha])e  so  it  could  be  examined  by  this  commission,  and 
turned  over  to  them  all  the  data  that  they  asked  for  that  we  had,  and 
in  every  way  undertook  to  aid  the  coumiission  in  its  work.  The  result 
you  have  before  you  in  a  report,  of  which  I  need  not  speak  and  will  not. 
In  many  things  I  agree  with  it  and  in  some  things  I  do  not. 

But  it  has  fallen  to  the  lot  of  Colonel  Ludlow,  who  is  chairman  of  this 
commission,  to  come  here  before  this  committee  and  state  substantially 
in  terms  repeatedly  that  what  we  had  done  was  worthless;  that  there 
was  not  sullicient  information  or  data  upon  which  to  form  any  idea  as 
to  what  this  work  would  cost,  and  to  further  pronounce  the  plans  of  the 
company  absolutely  impracticable.  With  that  statement  before  us,  of 
course  it  behooves  both  the  chief  engineer  of  tlie  work,  who  has  given 
the  better  part  of  his  life  to  it,  and  myself,  who  was  president  of  the 
company  during  all  those  years,  to  say  whether  this  report  can  be  veri- 
fied by  any  facts,  if  not  by  this  investigation  of  the  comx)any,  by  any 
facts  obtained  by  the  commission  itself. 

First,  the  connuission  tells  us  that  there  is  not  sufflcient  data  upon 
which  to  make  any  estimate  of  the  cost  of  this  work,  and  then  they 
proceed  to  make  a  detailed  estimate,  going  into  details  of  all  kinds,  and 
they  find  it  will  cost  a  specified  sum — I  believe  133,000,300  and  some 
odd  dollars.  By  what  process  of  reasoning  or  logic  this  was  arrived  at 
without  any  data  I  do  not  know.  Colonel  Ludlow  has  told  you  repeat- 
edly they  went  through  the  country,  looked  at  the  line  of  the  canal, 
and  did  substantially  no  engineering  work  except  to  take  a  few  levels 
upon  the  lake  and  upon  the  river,  and  that  the  oflicers  of  the  steamship 
Montgomery  made  a  survey  of  Greytown  Harbor;  but  certainly  there 
was  no  attempt  to  verify  the  findings  of  the  company  by  actual  work 
in  the  field  to  determine  whether  our  lines  were  correct  or  not,  to 
determine  M'hether  there  was  a  mistake  of  a  foot  in  the  levels  between 
Greytown  and  Ochoa  Dam,  as  Colonel  Ludlow  stated  yesterday. 

As  to  that,  I  will  leave  that  for  our  chief  engineer  to  answer.  It  was 
rather  gratuitous,  I  think,  to  call  in  question  the  truth  of  the  stat-e- 
ments  I  made  or  to  say  in  a  most  positive  manner  that  no  other  engi- 
neers had  ever  been  over  the  line  of  this  canal  save  these  three 
commissioners.  That  was  a  statement  no  man  could  make  positively, 
because  there  could  be  no  proof  of  it  whatever.  No  man  has  been 
there  all  the  time  during  all  the  years  that  Mr.  Menocal  has  been  there, 
and  no  man  could  make  any  such  statement  as  that  with  any  truth; 
but  when  asked  to  tell  who  gave  him  this  information  we  find  it  comes 


NICARAGUA   CANAL.  287 

from  a  discredited  employee  of  the  company  wlio  1  myself  relieved  from 
authority  and  turned  out  of  the  comi)any  when  we  found  that  while  in 
our  service  in  Nicaragua  he  had  undertaken  to  seize  the  property  of 
the  company,  and  brought  suits  in  the  courts  in  Nicaragua,  where  he 
was  finally  defeated  because  his  claims  were  fraudulent. 

The  Commission  did  not  ask  me  or  anyone  in  the  company  to  give 
them  the  names  of  any  competent  engineers  on  this  work,  but  they 
took  this  man — they  say  the  first  that  offered.  If  tliey  did  not  know 
his  character,  they  could  have  found  it  out.  They  did  not  come  to  me 
to  find  it  out.  Miijor  Davis,  one  of  the  best  officers  in  the  Army  of  the 
United  States  to  day,  in  the  Secretary  of  War's  office 

The  CnAiKMAN.  Please  give  his  initials. 

Mr.  Miller,  ]\[aj.  George  W.  Davis.  All  the  time  I  was  there  he 
was  the  general  manager  and  had  to  do  with  these  men  and  knew  them. 
If  a  brother  officer  asked  him  about  the  character  of  a  man  in  the 
employ  of  the  company,  he  would  have  found  it.  I  do  not  attempt  to 
say  that  this  Commission  deliberately  selected  this  man,  knowing  his 
relation  to  the  C()m])an3',  or  held  correspondence  with  other  men  who 
had  been  discharged,  l)ut  it  is  a  fact  that  they  did,  and  then  to  put  the 
statement  of  the  jiresident  and  chief  engineer  of  the  company  against 
this  man  is  hardly  in  keeping,  sir,  it  seems  to  me,  with  the  proper  con- 
duct of  an  army  oiBcer.  However  that  may  be,  certainly  it  is  not  in 
keeping  with  common  decency  among  gentlemen.  That  brings  me  here 
to  prove  the  truth  of  the  statements  that  I  have  made. 

Now,  fortunately.  Colonel  Ludlow  has  spoken  in  the  highest  terms  of 
Mr.  Treat.  I  am  sorry  Mr.  Treat  is  not  here.  When  I  came  to  Wash- 
ington and  heard  that  the  statements  that  I  had  made  had  been  called 
in  (]uestion  I  telegraphed  to  Mr.  Treat  in  Chicago,  asking  him  to  come 
on  here,  and  he  replied  that  he  could  not  possibly  do  so,  as  he  had 
important  business  engagements  in  California  and  was  to  leave  that 
niglit.  What  he  said  in  regard  to  this  matter,  however,  I  shall  read 
when  I  come  to  it,  at  the  proper  time.  Mr.  Treat,  some  years  ago  at 
the  beginning  of  this  enterprise,  had  his  attention  called  to  it — I  know 
not  how — but  he  went  to  Nicaragua  and  spent  several  months,  I  think, 
in  making  investigation  of  the  country,  the  people,  the  climate,  and 
conditions  along  the  line  where  the  canal  would  have  to  be  built.  He 
then  came  home  and  when  the  company  began  to  talk  of  commencing 
work  Mr.  Treat  brought  himself  in  communication  with  the  company 
upon  a  i)roposition  that  he  would  undertake  to  do  some  of  the  work. 
The  company  was  not  in  funds  to  undertake  large  contracts  at  that 
time,  but  we  had,  under  our  concessions,  to  expend  $2,000,000  during 
the  first  year,  in  order  to  hold  the  concessions,  and  I  proposed,  as  one 
of  the  first  things  to  do,  to  build  a  railroad  from  Greytown  into  the 
interior,  into  the  foothills,  in  order  that  we  might  arrive  at  the  Great 
Divide  and  at  the  locks,  because  the  length  of  time  it  would  take  to 
excavate  the  divide  cut  would  determine  the  length  of  time  it  would 
take  to  build  the  canal. 

Tbe  difficulties  of  building  that  railroad  I  have  expressed  in  my 
former  statement  here.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  Mr.  Treat  consented  to 
go  down  and  build  that  railroad,  he  himself  furnishing  the  skill  and 
ability  and  the  company  all  the  labor  and  material,  and  he  to  receive 
the  10  per  cent  for  carrying  it  through.  He  did  so,  and  with  great  suc- 
cess, and  built  the  road  for  a  little  more  than  half  of  the  estimate  of 
our  own  engineer.  After  he  had  returned  to  New  York,  and  we  were 
considering  the  question  of  raising  funds  in  a  large  way  by  a  probable 
issue  of  bonds,  I  asked  Mr.  Treat  to  write  me  a  statement  as  to  the 


288  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

general  condition  of  affairs  down  tliere  and  his  ideas  of  tlie  conntry  and 
of  the  ability  to  do  work  and  everything,  in  order  that  I  might  have  it 
to  show  to  bankers  and  other  people  who  might  be  interested  in  it.  I 
prox)ose  to  read  this  letter  first : 

22  East  Seventy-eighth  Street, 

Netv  York,  February  27,  1S92. 
Hon.  Warner  Miller, 

President  Nicaragua  Canal  Company,  44  Wall  Street,  New  Yoric, 

Dear  Sir:  Coucerning  the  cost  of  the  Nicaragua  Canal,  if  built  by  intelligent 
and  experienced  contractors  and  engineers,  there  is  not  nntch  that  I  care  to  say,  as 
the  ground  has  been  so  fully  covered  by  the  engineers'  reports  and  estimates. 

Most  of  the  special  difficulties,  as  well  as  facilities  of  construction,  will  occur  to 
anyone  experienced  in  doing  heavy  work  who  goes  carefully  over  the  canal  line; 
and  almost  anyone  will  certainly  be  surprised  at  the  absence,  to  a  degree,  of  so 
much  of  the  difficulty  expected  in  tropical  countries.  This  is  especially  true  of  the 
Pacific  division  of  the  canal,  but  it  is  also  true,  to  a  less  degree,  of  the  Atlantic 
division. 

As  you  know,  I  do  not  speak  of  this  without  some  knowledge,  having  been  in 
Nicaragua  at  all  seasons  of  the  year  and  knowing  the  route  of  the  canal  thoroughly. 

One  of  the  common  causes  of  the  difficulty  and  expense  of  building  heavy  public 
works  in  the  Tropics  is  the  ill  health  of  the  countries  and  the  Sickness  and  high 
death  rate  among  the  workmen.  This  cause  is  almost  wholly  absent  in  Nicaragua, 
and  in  this  respect  I  believe  the  eastern  end  of  the  canal  may  have  an  advantage 
over  the  western  end.  The  northeast  trade  wind,  which  blows  nearly  all  the  year, 
is  stronger  and  fresher  along  the  line  of  the  canal  from  San  Juan  del  Norte,  through 
the  notch  in  the  mountains  over  which  the  line  runs,  and  on  to  Ochoa,  than  it  is 
west  of  Lake  Nicaragua. 

But  I  believe  all  people  acquainted  with  the  country  along  the  canal  line  from  the 
lake  to  Brito,  on  the  Pacific,  consider  it  healthful.  There  can  hardly  be  much  dis- 
agreement as  to  that.  No  part  of  Nicaragua  near  the  canal  line  has  ever  been  subject 
to  epidemics.  My  own  experience  in  building  the  railroad  for  you  from  the  harbor 
at  San  9uan  del  Norte,  10  miles  across  the  swamps  to  the  higher  ground  beyond,  is 
proof  of  the  healthfulness  of  the  country  along  that  part  of  the  line. 

There  can  scarcely  be  a  more  unhealthful  piece  of  work  during  the  construction  of 
the  entire  canal  than  that  was.  More  than  half  of  the  men  employed  worked  in  the 
swamp  in  water  from  their  knees  to  their  shoulders,  ten  hours  a  day,  doing  hard 
work  and  not  always  having  quite  the  proper  food,  which  can  constantly  be  had  after 
the  canal  work  is  fairly  started.  And  yet,  out  of  about  1,000  laborers  employed  for 
seven  months,  only  two  died  of  disease. 

The  men  worked  steadily.  Every  morning  they  commenced  at  6  o'clock  and,  except 
one  hour  from  11  till  12,  they  worked  till  5  in  the  afternoon.  They  then  had  some 
daylight  still  remaining  to  wash  their  clothes,  bathe,  etc.  They  did  not  stop  for 
rain,  but  worked  steadily  through  the  rainy  season  without  protection  while  at  work, 
all  the  time  during  the  seven  months  except  two  half  days.  There  was  malarial 
sickness ;  it  could  hardly  be  otherwise,  but  there  was  nothing,  except  the  two  cases 
mentioned,  which  was  not  cured  in  a  week  or  so  by  rest  and  the  proper  medicines. 
At  the  end  of  the  seven  months  the  men  generally  were  in  as  good  health  as  at  the 
beginning.  They  were  mostly  Jamaica  negroes.  There  were  from  200  to  300  native 
Nicaragnans  and  Costa  Ricans,  and  a  few  negroes  from  the  United  States  and  from 
several  of  the  West  India  and  Windward  islands. 

I  believe  the  matter  of  health,  as  afl:'ecting  the  difficulty  and  cost  of  construction 
of  the  canal,  need  hardly  be  considered  more  than  in  estimating  the  cost  of  work  in 
almost  any  part  of  the  United  States. 

The  labor  supply  will  be  one  of  the  first  things  to  be  considered  by  anyone  under- 
taking the  work  or  a  part  of  it.  I  can  speak  with  some  intelligence  concerning  that 
also,  one  reason  for  my  undertaking  to  build  the  short  railroad  across  the  swamp 
having  been  my  desire  to  study  the  health  of  the  country  and  the  question  of  the 
supply  of  labor  for  the  construction  of  the  canal.  I  am  satisfied  that  a  constant 
force  of  10,000  to  15,000  men  or  more  can  be  kept  on  the  eastern  end  of  the  work 
from  the  island  of  Jamaica  alone.  Those  men  are  good  at  task  work  and  are  fairly 
good  in  large  gangs  under  foremen.  A  small  number  of  engine  drivers,  excavators, 
and  steam  drill  men,  etc.,  can  be  had  from  the  same  sources,  also  a  good  many  rough 
masons  and  carpenters.  Thoy  will  do  good  work  as  stokers  on  all  steam  machinery. 
An  abundance  of  skilled  labor  and  foremen  for  both  divisions  of  the  canal  can  be 
procured  from  the  United  States  and  from  Europe  with  no  troubh;  and  without  pay- 
ing very  high  wages.  For  the  Pacific  division  of  the  canal  1  believe  plenty  of  com- 
mon labor  can  be  found  in  the  various  States  of  Central  America.  I  have  found 
these  laborers  fairly  efficient  under  good  management.    The  rates  of  pay,  including 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  2-80 

stiltsistencc,  on  ilio  whole  canal  will  i)rol)ably  bo  little  more  than  half  the  average 
]iaid  in  the  I'nited  States  and  I  slunild  say  the  ctiicieufy  of  the  laborers  was  also 
about  half  that  of  laborers  in  the  United  States. 

This  was  written  when  silver  was  mucb  higher  than  now,  when  the 
sole  was  wortli  about  75  cents  on  the  doihir.  Kow  it  is  only  worth  45 
or  50,  although  the  rates  of  labor  in  the  country  remain  the  same. 

The  installation  of  the  workinjj  plant  on  the  eastern  division,  including  the  build- 
ing of  additional  necessary  railroad,  will  be  expensive  and  will  add  considerably  to 
the  cost  per  cubic  yard  of  the  work.  15ut,  on  the  other  hand,  steam  coal  from  Alabama 
or  from  Wales,  and  timbers  and  lumber  from  the  Southern  States,  will  be  cheap. 

On  the  western  division  fuel  and  lumber  will  be, more  costly,  but  the  expense  for 
them  can  be  closely  estimated  in  advance. 

When  I  commenced  work  on  the  railway  at  Sau  Juan  del  Norte,  the  cost  of  dis- 
charging freight,  especially  heavy  machinery,  as  locomotives,  Avas  greater  than  the 
cost  of  transportation  from  New  York.  Now,  I  nnderstand,  vessels  can  be  unloaded 
directly  on  to  cars  at  the  entrance  to  the  caual. 

At  that  time  the  harbor  was  opened  and  vessels  drawing  from  12  to 
14  feet  of  water  went  into  the  harbor  without  difficulty,  and  the  cargoes 
were  unloaded  directly  on  the  wharf. 

For  the  Pacific  division,  lighterage  will  be  necessary  until  the  harbor  work  at 
Brito  is  llnished,  but  during  a  large  part  of  the  year  vessels  can  lie  safely  at  anchor 
there  in  the  lee  of  the  land,  the  wind  being  uniformly  from  the  eastward  except  for 
two  or  three  months.  In  case  of  necessity  the  excellent  harbor  of  San  Juan  del  Sur 
6  miles  away,  can  be  used. 

Any  engineer  or  contractor  examining  the  work  will  be  soon  impressed  by  the  fiict 
that  it  is  "  both  way"  work,  i.  e.,  that  a  large  part  of  the  excavation  is  to  go  into  the 
embankment  instead  of  being  wasted,  and  that  no  material  whatever  need  bo  bor- 
rowed for  dams  or  embankments.  This  will  reduce  the  unit  cost  of  the  work  very 
materially. 

The  thorough  examination  by  borings  which  has  been  made  shows  clearly  the  char- 
acter of  material  to  be  handled  for  the  whole  length  of  tlie  canal,  and  it  is  such  that 
little  allowance  need  be  made  for  slides.  The  only  uncertain  jiartof  the  work  would 
seem  to  be  the  foundations  for  some  of  the  dams  and  emljaiikments.  If  masonry 
structures  were  to  be  erected  this  would  be  a  very  serious  matter,  but  since  perma- 
nence is  to  be  secured  by  the  mass  and  weight  of  "rock-lill  dams,"  rather  than  by 
any  form  of  masonry  construction  (as  1  understand  has  been  decided),  tliis  becomea 
merely  a  matter  of  dumping  onto  tlie  dam  or  embankment  so  much  more  or  less  of 
the  material  from  the  cuts  and  wasting  less  or  more  in  more  convenient  places.  In 
auycontingency  there  will  be  enough  rock  excavation  from  the  great  cutting  of  each 
division  of  the  canal  to  make  the  dams  and  embankments  of  the  same  division,  and 
to  make  them  as  durable  as  the  adjacent  hills. 

There  is  a  large  amount  of  dredging  to  be  done  at  the  eastern  outlet  of  the  lake, 
but  the  material  there  is  a  soft,  thin  mud,  which  can  be  moved  by  suction  dredges 
similar  to  those  used  in  iilliugthe  Potomac  tlats  at  Washington,  infilling  in  tide  flat 
lauds  at  Tacoma,  and  in  similar  work  elsewhere,  for  a  very  small  cost  per  cubic  yard. 
The  dredging  to  be  done  at  either  end  of  the  canal  is  like  that  done  at  Colon  by 
bucket  dredges  and  also  in  other  places.  The  cost  of  the  concrete  and  masonry  for 
the  locks  can  be  approximately  estimated,  and  the  steel  work  for  the  gates  can  be 
made  anywhere  in  the  world  where  it  can  be  had  most  cheaply.  The  harbor  work 
at  San  Juan  del  Norte  is  already  well  under  way,  and  the  correctness  of  the  engineers' 
plans  and  estimates  seems  to  be  demonstrated. 

The  problem  of  the  harbor  at  Brito  is  apparently  more  simple  than  at  San  Juan 
del  Norte.     It  is  such  work  as  has  been  already  successfully'^  done  elsewhere. 

I  should  say  the  estimate  per  cubic  yard  for  earth  excavation  on  the  eastern-divide 
cut  was  too  low,  but  that  is  comparatively  a  small  item. 

The  work  is  one  which  ofi'ers  ample  opportunity  for  experience  and  skill  and  tho 
careful  management  of  large  forces  of  men  in  its  accomplishment,  and  its  cost  will 
be  largely  alTected  l»y  these  agencies.  There  will  be  plenty  of  cliances  for  trying 
costly  experiments  in  construction,  and  millions  can  be  quickly  spent  in  following- 
wrong  methoils  of  work  without  doing  much  toward  the  completion  of  the  canal; 
but  it  seems  to  me  that  the  work  can  bo  done  on  the  whole  canal  lor  about  the  unit 
prices  estimated  by  the  chief  engineer  and  give  the  contractors  fair  profits. 

Assuming  that  the  quantities  throughout  have  been  accurately  calculated,  the 
canal  should  be  built  for  considerably  less  than  $100,000,000. 

Very  truly,  yours,  C.  P.  Treat, 

.,^  Office^  Bookery  Building,  Chicago, 


290  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

This  was  in  1892,  Mr.  Chairman.  Mr.  Treat  was  frequently  consulted 
Avith  by  myself  and  the  company  in  regard  to  this  matter,  and  last  year, 
when  an  effort  was  being  made  in  London  to  interest  some  English  cap- 
ital in  this  enterprise,  the  de.sire  was  expressed  to  have  bids  made  for 
the  entire  work — to  find  some  engineers  or  some  contractors  of  sufficient 
capacity  to  make  a  proposition  for  the  entire  work.  Mr.  Treat  before 
this  Imd  made  a  contract  bid  for  the  entire  western  end  of  tlie  canal. 
He  said  he  preferred  to  have  that;  that  he  was  capable  of  carrying  on 
that  amount  of  Avork  himself,  without  help;  that  he  would  give  abun- 
dant security  to  the  company  for  its  completion;  and  he  made  a  bid 
for  the  western  end  of  the  canal,  which  was  read  here  yesterday,  and 
of  which  I  have  a  copy  which  is  substantially  correct.  The  company 
desired  him  to  go  further  than  that,  and  to  see  at  what  price  he  would 
be  willing  to  build  the  entire  canal. 

This  statement  was  made  while  he  was  in  London.  I  simply  knew 
of  it  by  the  reports  brought  to  me  by  Mr.  Smith  M.  Weed  and  Mr. 
3>artlett,  who  were  there,  and  I  made  that  statement  in  perfect  good 
faith  and  truthfuluess,  as  it  will  appear.  When  I  heard  it  had  been 
disputed  in  this  committee  that  any  such  x)roposition  had  been  made  in 
any  form,  I  immediately  telegraphed  Mr.  Treat  in  Chicago  and  received 
telegrams  from  him,  which  I  need  not  read  because  they  are  repeated 
in  tins  letter,  but  1  will  read  the  entire  letter.  This  is  not  the  bid  which 
was  read  here  yesterday,  the  one  I  am  reading  about  now.  It  was  a 
lump  sum  bid  for  the  western  end.  He  first  made  the  bid  in  detail, 
which  was  read  yesterday,  and  then  this  lump-sum  bid. 

Mr.  HooLiTTLE.  What  Bartlett  is  that? 

Mr.  Miller.  He  was  the  chairman  of  the  reorganization  committee. 
When  the  Canal  Construction  Company  went  into  the  hands  of  a 
receiver  a  reorganization  committee  was  formed  to  reorganize  the  com- 
pany, and  Mr.  Bartlett  was  made  chairman  of  that  committee ;  and  when 
the  company  was  reorganized  and  the  new  company  was  started  Mr. 
Bartlett  was  for  the  first  year  president  of  that  company,  of  which  I 
was  the  chairman  of  the  board. 

This  bid,  then,  is  a  lump-sum  bid  for  the  western  end  of  the  canal, 
taking  all  the  risks  himself  as  to  quantities  and  material  and  the  pos- 
sible results.    He  says: 

Chicago,  May  2,  1S96. 
Hon.  Warner  Miller: 
Dear  Sir  :  I  have  received  your  telegram.     I  leave  to-night  for  California. 

I  replied  as  follows: 

I  would  agree  to  build  tlie  western  division  of  the  canal  and  put  a  ship  drawing 
28  feet  from  the  Pacific  Ocean  intoLalie  Nicaragua  for  $31,000,000.  Have  no  doubt 
syndicate  or  individual  could  build  entire  canal  for  $100,000,000  and  make  large 
profits. 

This  was  a  lump-sum  bid,  he  taking  all  his  chances. 

Never  made  formal  proposition  for  entire  canal.  Told  Bartlett  would  be  willing  to 
undertake  it  for  $100,000,000.  Made  him  formal  proposition  for  western  division  for 
$31,000,000,  which  I  hereby  confirm.  I  inclose  herewith  a  co])y  of  bid  which  I  made 
to  Mr.  Bartlett  in  181*5  for  the  western  division,  based  on  unit  prices.  I  also  at  his 
request  made  him  a  bid  last  winter  in  London  to  build  the  western  division  for  a 
lump  sum  of  $31,000,000,  subject  to  certain  conditions  of  payment  as  specified  in  the 
proposition.  Colonel  Ludlow  and  the  other  members  of  the  Commission  saw  a  copy 
of  my  bid  of  18it5,  and  we  discussed  the  unit  prices.  I  think  they  did  not  consider 
any  of  my  prices  too  low,  except  tlie  item  for  concrete.  That  they  questioned  and 
were  doubtful  about.  Of  course,  my  bid  does  not  in  any  way  guarantee  quantities, 
but  those  were  closely  determined  by  the  surveys.  Any  man  who  can  run  transits 
and  levels  can  do  that.  The  chiefs  of  ]iartics  and  their  men  whom  I  saw  and  knew 
iu  Nicaragua  were  entirely  competent  to  do  their  work. 


NICARAGUA   CANAL.  291 

As  to  the  character  of  the  material  and  the  liability  of  the  slopes  to  slide  aud 
increase  the  amount  of  excavation,  I  knew  personally  of  the  borings  being  done 
over  much  of  the  canal  line  including  the  eastern  divide  cut,  and  have  samples  of 
the  rock  in  my  Chicago  office  which  I  obtained  while  the  borings  were  being  made. 
There  can  be  no  danger  of  extensive  slips  on  the  western  division,  and  I  think  very 
little  danger  on  the  eastern  division.  The  clay  overlying  the  rock  on  the  eastern 
divide  cut  is  of  the  same  nature  as  that  through  which  the  cuttings  Avere  made  for 
the  railroad,  and  these  cuts  have  stood  perfectly  until  now.  Under  the  clay  the 
borings  showed  solid  rock  to  the  bottom  of  the  cuts. 

I  would  be  willing  to  undertake  the  construction  of  the  entire  canal  now  for 
$100,000,000,  except  that  I  am  not  ambitions  to  assume  such  a  heavy  load.  I  should 
have  to  consider  it  somewhat.  I  have  no  doubt  that  better  men  than  I  would  under- 
take it. 

Yours,  very  truly,  C.  P.  Treat. 

I  submit,  Mr.  Chairman,  tliat  tliat  justifies  all  I  said  in  regard  to  Mr. 
Treat's  proposition  to  build  the  entire  canal.  But  that  was  not  all;  we 
sought  bids  from  other  people,  both  for  the  dredging-  and  the  excava- 
tion of  the  work,  and  I  hold  in  my  hand  a  bid  made  by  James  P. 
McDonald  &  Co.,  of  date  July  23, 1895,  for  the  construction  of  this  canal. 
I  need  not  say,  perhaps,  to  those  who  understand  it  that  McDonald  & 
Co.  are  among  the  largest  and  most  successful  contractors  in  this 
country.  At  the  present  time  they  are  just  closing  up  the  building  of 
a  railroad  in  Jamaica  in  which  they  have  been  engaged  for  several 
years.  It  has  been  under  contract  for  at  least  five  years,  but  abandoned 
by  other  parties  and  they  took  it  up.  I  visited  myself  and  went  over 
some  60  miles  of  the  road.  These  people  would  be  backed  by  very 
large  capital. 

80  Broadway, 
New  York,  July  33,  1895. 
John  R.  Bartfett,  Esq., 

President  Nicaracjiui  Canal  Company,  New  York  City,  K.  Y. 
Dear  Sir:  I  understand  from  recent  conversations  with  you  that  your  company 
will  shortly  be  able  to  be  in  a  position  to  proceed  Avith  the  work  of  construction  of 
the  Nicaragua  Canal.     In  accordance  with  those  conversations  I  herewith  make  the 
following  preliminary  tender  to  you: 

We  should  be  willing  to  undertake  the  work  at  substantially  the  prices  named  for 
the  different  classes  of  work  l.>y  Chief  Engineer  Menocal  in  his  report  on  the  final 
location  of  the  canal,  d.-ited  January  31,  1890,  of  which  you  furnished  me  a  copy, 
with  the  following  exceptions:  We  should  want,  instead  of  the  prices  given  by  Mr. 
Menocal,  to  be  paid  at  the  following  rates : 

1.  Clearing per  acre . .  $1,50. 00 

2.  Rock  excavation per  cubic  yard..  1.80 

3.  Earth  excavation do .50 

4.  Earth  fills do .50 

5.  Earth  under  water do 3.50 

G.  Rock  under  water do 4.  00 

7.  Concrete  in  place do 10.00 

The  rest  of  the  work  described  in  Mr.  Menocal's  estimates  we  are  prepared  to  exe- 
cute at  his  figures,  which,  with  the  changes  therefrom  last  above  referred  to,  would 
make  the  total  amount  for  which  we  are  prepared  to  build  the  canal  $70,000,000. 

This  proposal  is  made  in  respect  to  the  whole  canal.  It  can  be  made  to  apply 
jiro  tanto  to  the  eastern  section  thereof,  from  Greytown  Harbor  to  the  lake,  thus 
excluding  the  work  covered  by  the  proposals  which  I  understand  yoxr  have  already 
received  for  the  dredging  and  for  the  construction  on  the  western  coast.  I  should 
prefer,  however,  to  make  one  contract,  covering  the  entire  work  of  the  canal. 

I  shall  be  prepared  to  give  satisfactory  bonds  for  the  faithful  performance  of  the 
work  within  five  years  from  the  date  of  the  contract. 

It  would  be  necessary  for  you  to  arrange  that  payments  should  be  made  monthly, 
either  in  New  York  or  Greytown  Harbor,  upon  certificates  of  work  done  or  mate- 
rials furnished,  approved  by  the  engineers  of  your  company ;  and  I  am  prejKired  to 
take  these  contracts  for  50  per  cent  in  cash  and  50  per  cent  in  bonds  of  the  canal 
conipany,  at  such  price  as  they  may  be  issued  to  any  other  contractors  or  syndicate 
or  in  any  other  way  disposed  of  by  your  company ;  or,  if  you  choose,  I  am  prepared 


292  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

to  make  tlio  contract  for  cash,  aud  I  will  coiitemporanconsly  agree  to  subscribe  for 
an  amonut  of  tlie  bonds  iu  any  syndicate  -which  yon  may  prepare  which  will  be 
ecjual  to  half  of  the  amount  to  be  paid  me  upon  the  whole  contract,  with  its  pro 
rata  of  stock. 

I  shall  be  prei)arod  to  enter  into  a  formal  and  detailed  contract  with  your  company 
whenever  you  are  iu  a  position  to  satisfy  me  that  your  liuaucial  arrangements  have 
been  so  far  perfected  as  to  insure  the  receipt  by  me  of  the  cash  necessary  to  be  paid 
under  this  contract. 

1  ought  to  add  that  I  am  at  present  engaged  under  contract  in  the  construction  of 
a  railway  on  the  island  of  Jamaica,  and  I  expect  to  finish  that  work  about  the  first 
of  the  year.  I  am  now  emi)loyiug  there  about  8,000  men,  with  a  large  plant,  aud  if 
any  contract  is  to  be  made  with  yon,  I  should  desire  to  have  the  same  perfected  before 
the  first  of  December,  if  practicable,  so  as  to  arrange  for  the  transfer  of  my  force  and 
jilaut  directly  from  Jamaica  to  the  Isthmus.  I  feel  safe  iu  saying,  if  you  can  show  mo 
that  your  financial  arrangemeuts  have  been  consumuuited,  I  should  have  no  difficulty 
in  putting  a  force  of  25,000  Jamaicans  alone  at  work  upon  the  canal  within  ninety 
days  from  the  date  of  contract. 

in  accordance  with  our  conversation  I  have  made  this  letter  general  in  terms,  but 
I  think,  with  the  modilicatious  of  Mr.  Meuocal's  figures  above  referred  to,  it  is  sutti- 
ciently  s]>c(ilic  to  be  the  batsis  of  a-  foruial  contract  for  the  construction  of  the  whole 
or  a  part  of  the  canal,  if  you  accede  to  my  terms. 

Yours,  very  truly,  Jamks  P.  McDonald  &  Co. 

Tuesday,  May  5. 

Mv.  Miller.  Here  is  the  proposition  made  for  the  dredging  by  A.  B. 
Bowers,  the  inventor  of  the  snction  dredge — the  one  whicli  has  been 
nsed  so  long  at  Tacoma  aud  on  the  Pacific  Coast.  This  was  made  in 
1894. 

Murray  Hill  Hotel, 
New  York,  May  25,  1894. 
John  E.  Bartlett,  Esq., 

Chairman  Beorganization  Committee, 

Nicaragua  Caval  Construction  Companrj, 

Dear  Sir:  Eeferring  to  and  confirming  my  letter  to  you  of  April  14,  1894, 1  desire 
to  say  that  since  receipt  of  your  reply  I  have  consulted  with  my  associates,  Messrs. 
Hamilton,  Williams,  and  Bliss,  of  Nevada,  and  others,  who  authorize  me  to  make 
the  following  proposition,  to  which  we  desii'e  your  acceptance  at  as  early  a  date  as 
practicable. 

We  desire  to  join  in  the  syndicate  you  are  organizing  for  the  construction  of  the 
Nicaragua  Ship  Canal  and  hereby  ofier  to  contract  for  all  the  dredging  on  the  canal, 
including  both  harbors,  under  the  estimates  made  by  Chief  Engineer  Menocal,  bear- 
ing date  January  1,  18'J0,  and  amounting  to  about  $9,000,000,  on  the  folio wiug  terms, 
to  wit:  Payment  to  be  made  all  cash,  or  at  your  option  20  per  cent  cash  and  80  per 
cent  in  the  5  per  cent  gold  bonds  of  the  Maritime  Canal  Company.  Both  cash  and 
bonds  to  be  paid  us  in  pro  rata  mouthly  installments  as  the  work  progresses.  The 
bonds  to  be  taken  at  70,  or  at  such  price  as  other  contractors  may  accept  the  same, 
or  at  the  lowest  price  for  which  the  said  bonds  are  sold  by  the  company  at  any 
time  prior  to  the  final  completion  and  opening  of  the  canal.  It  is  understood,  how- 
ever, that  this  contract  shall  be  binding  on  neither  party  until  other  contracts  to  bo 
executed  simultaneously  with  the  dredging  are  taken  on  substantially  the  same 
terms,  and  of  eijual  amount  or  sufficient  amount  to  insure  a  vigorous  prosecution 
of  the  whole  work,  and  ample  security  given  for  the  payments  of  cash  aud  bonds  as 
aforesaid. 

Should  you  award  us  the  contract  we  will  give  sufticieut  and  satisfactory  bonds 
for  the  ])erformauce,  within  four  years  from  the  commencement  of  the  work,  of  all 
of  said  dredging,  aud  will  commence  preparations  for  the  active  prosecution  of  the 
work  as  sooii  as  tiie  final  contract  is  formally  executed.  I  will  reciuest  my  associates 
above  named,  and  perhaps  others,  to  write  you  approving  the  above  proposition. 
Yours,  verv  truly, 

A.  B.  Bowers. 

Carson,  Nev.,  June  4,  1S94. 
John  R.  Bartlett,  Esq., 

Chairman  Reorganization  Committee, 

Nicaragua  Canal  Construction  Company, 

2  Wall  Street,  Netv  York,  N.  T. 
Dear  Sir:  Referring  to  a  projiosition  made  to  yon  by  A.  B.  Bowers,  esq.,  and 
dated  May  25,  1894,  wherein  he,  for  himself  and  associates,  agrees  to  contract  to  do 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  293 

all  the  drcdsinj;^  work  required  for  the  construction  of  the  Nicaragua  Ship  Cana\ 
under  certain  terms  and  conditions  mentioned  in  said  proposition,  we  desire  to  say 
as  his  associates  in  the  enterprise  that  we  fully  indorse  and  approve  said  ])roposition, 
and  that  we  will,  in  conjunction  with  Mr.  Bowers,  do  all  and  everything  that  is  nec- 
essarj'  to  carry  out  any  contract  entered  into  with  the  said  canal  company  based  ou 
the  proposition  mentioned. 

Yours,  truly,  B.  Williams. 

H.  M.  GORHAM. 

D.  L.  Cliss. 

Mr.  Miller.  Kow,  Mr.  Chairman,  we  present  these  with  the  belief 
that  they  are  far  more  important  than  any  estimates  that  can  be  made 
by  anybody  as  to  tlie  nnit  of  prices.  They  are  made  by  gentlemen  who 
are  engaged  in  this  business,  who  know  it  thoroughly,  one  of  whom  has 
spent  a  long  time  in  Nicaragua,  and  the  other  firm,  McDonald  &  Co., 
has  been  engaged  in  this  work  in  the  Tropics,  and  they  understand  fully 
what  it  means.  Now,  the  statement  is  made  unequivocally  by  Mr. 
Treat  that  the  cost  of  labor,  that  is  the  per  diem  cost  of  the  men,  is 
about  one-half  what  it  is  in  the  States,  and  that  they  perform  one-half 
the  amount  of  labor  which  would  be  performed  in  the  States.  In  other 
words,  that  the  labor  cost  in  removing  earth  or  doing  any  other  labor, 
that  the  unit  of  cost  would  be  precisely  what  it  is  in  the  United  States. 
At  the  present  time  with  the  i)resent  low  price  of  silver  it  is  even  less 
than  that.  Mr.  Treat's  experience  of  sev^en  months  in  building  this 
railroad  ought  to  be  the  best  possible  testimonj^  that  can  be  given  in 
regard  to  a  matter  of  this  kind,  and  in  another  letter  which  he  wrote 
me  of  the  same  date,  May  2,  in  regard  to  labor,  he  said : 

I  told  the  Commission 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  What  commission  does  he  refer  to? 
Mr.  Miller.  He  refers  to  the  Commission  of  which  Colonel  Ludlow 
is  the  chairman. 

I  told  the  Commission  that  I  considered  the  labor  a  little  more  than  half  as  efficient 
as  in  the  United  States  and  the  rate  of  pay  was  half  as  much.  I  never  had  more 
faithful  workers  than  the  natives  of  Costa  Rica  and  Nicaragua. 

It  was  stated  here  yesterday  that  the  labor  of  the  South  American 
States,  Nicaragua  and  Costa  Kica,  was  worthless;  that  they  would  not 
work.  Mr.  Treat  said  he  had  two  or  three  hundred  hands  employed  all 
the  time. 

I  never  had  more  faithful  workers  than  the  natives  of  Nicaragua  and  Costa  Rica 
and  the  Jamaicans  were  not  bad.  I  expect  to  be  back  in  three  Aveeks  and  would  be 
glad  to  come  to  Washington  then  if  not  too  late. 

Now,  the  position  taken  by  the  comi)any  is  this,  that  labor  in  Nica- 
ragua costs  about  one-half  what  it  does  in  the  United  States,  and  it  is 
about  one-half  as  elfective.  If  I  recollect  aright  the  report  of  the  Com- 
mission, they  make  a  similar  statement,  but  now  they  make  the  state- 
ment that  the  cost  of  labor  in  Nicaragua  is  twice  what  it  is  in  the 
United  States.    Now,  the  prices  paid  are  well  known 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  I  would  like  to  call  attention  to  the  fact  that  it  was 
stated  here  yesterday  in  one  statement  which  was  made  that  it  was 
about  one-fourth? 

Mr.  IMiLLER.  I  will  come  to  that.  It  amounts  to  that  when  we  come 
to  it,  and  you  say  it  costs  twice  as  much. 

Mr.  Patterson.  I  did  not  understand  ft  that  way.  I  understood 
Colonel  Ludlow  to  say  that  when  a  given  piece  of  work  was  to  be  done 
that  the  labor  cost  of  the  performance  of  that  work  was  twice  as  great 
there  as  it  was  here? 


294  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

Mr.  Miller.  That  is  my  understanding,  and  that  is  what  I  stated  or 
intended  to  say. 

Mr.  Patterson.  And  the  climatic  conditions 

Mr.  Miller.  Everything  approacliing  to  it.  Mr.  Treat,  however, 
says,  as  I  have  just  read  in  his  own  language,  that  the  cost  of  labor  iu 
Nicaragua  is  about  the  same  as  it  is  in  the  United  States — that  is  to 
say,  you  pay  one  half  the  price  per  day  for  a  man  and  get  one-half  the 
amount  of  labor.     That  makes  it  the  same,  as  you  can  readily  see. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLB.  Mr.  Treat  is  strongly  indorsed  in  regard  to  that 
matter;  he  is  said  to  understand  all  about  these  conditions'? 

Mr.  Miller.  I  asked  the  secretary  of  the  comi)any  to  make  up  from 
our  books  a  statement  of  what  we  paid  for  labor  during  those  days. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Mr.  Chairman,  may  I  say  a  word  there  merely  to 
explain  what  the  position  of  the  Commission  is? 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  I  think  there  will  be  opportunity  after  this. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  will  only  take  two  minutes. 

Mr.  Miller.  I  have  no  objection  to  that,  although  I  have  to  get 
away  on  the  4  o'clock  train. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  If  there  is  no  objection,  it  is  this:  The  belief  and 
statement  made  by  the  board  is  not  especially  with  reference  to  labor 
alone  or  cost  of  hiring  it  or  effectiveness  alone,  but  the  unit  of  the  cost 
of  work  done,  taking  into  account  all  matters,  is  twice  at  Nicaragua 
what  it  would  be  for  the  same  work  iu  the  United  States.  The  com- 
parison covers  every  consideration  affecting  tlie  cost  in  ISTicaragua. 

Mr.  ]\[iLLER.  I  understand  that  to  be  the  statement  made  by  the 
commission,  and  I  understand  also  the  statement  was  made  here  yes- 
terday, very  deliberately,  that  the  labor  cost  of  any  piece  of  work, 
taking  the  labor  by  itself,  was  twice  what  it  was  in  the  United  States. 
The  secretary  of  our  coraijany  says : 

We  paid  colored  laborers  from  Jamaica  20  soles  per  mouth  and  subsistence.  Occa- 
sionally wo  paid  25  soles  and  subsistence,  but  I  take  it  that  was  for  local  native  labor. 
Twenty  solos  and  subsistence  was  the  contract  price.  In  estimates  subsistence  is 
counted  at  11  soles  per  month.  So  far  as  I  can  discover  it  actually  costs  11.50  soles 
only.  This  would  make  labor  cost  from  31.50  to  36.50  soles  i)er  month.  At  that  time 
soles  were  worth  about  72  cents;  the  eciuivalent  in  Americau  money  would,  on  that 
basis,  be  $22.68  to  $26.28;  to-day  soles  are  worth  less  than  50  cents. 

You  see  this  is  less  than  one-half  what  is  paid  in  this  country,  decid- 
edly so  anywhere.  TLie  cost  of  labor  on  the  Chicago  Drainage  Canal 
to-day  is  for  common  labor  of  this  same  kind  $1.50  and  the  man  linding 
himself;  that  is,  in  gold.  Now,  in  estimating  the  cost  of  a  piece  of  work 
employing  eight  or  ten  thousand  men  it  is  important  to  know  what  pro- 
portion is  skilled  and  what  proportion  is  common  labor.  I  telegraphed 
this  morning  to  the  chief  engineer  of  the  Chicago  Drainage  Canal  and 
this  is  Ins  answer: 

Report  of  August,  1895,  shows  77  per  cent  of  unskilled  labor  on  the  Chicago  Drain- 
age Canal. 

Now,  Colonel  Ludlow  stated  yesterday,  and  unadvisedly,  I  think,  that 
one  great  cost  of  labor  down  there  would  be  the  necessity  of  keeping 
a  large  number  of  relay  men  on  hand,  lie  said  a  double  set  of  men,  so 
if  a  man  running  a  steain  engine  or  dredge  was  taken  sick,  they  could 
not  wait  and  send  to  New  York  for  another  man,  but  should  have 
some  one  else  on  hand.  Let  us  see  about  that  as  practical  men,  and  I 
have  employed  a  good  many  men.  If  this  work  was  going  on  quite 
extensively,  there  would  l)e  from  r)0  to  100  loi'()nu)tive  engines  at  work. 
There  would  be  perlia])s  100  or  more  steam  engines  used  lor  hoisting 
and  drilliny-  and  all  kinds  of  work.    There  would  be  a  large  number 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  295 

of  tiiiiboats  and  other  steamboats  on  tlie  water.  There  would  be,  all 
told,  iroiu  100  to  liOO  and  300  steam  eugineers  on  this  whole  work  from 
ocean  to  ocean. 

Kow,  it  goes  without  saying  there  would  not  be  any  necessity  for 
doubling  all  those  employees.  It  is  not  done  on  any  railroad  in  this 
country.  They  keep  a  few  extra  engineers,  and  when  a  man  is  sick 
another  man  takes  his  place,  but  that  does  not  cost  the  comi:)any  any- 
thing except  the  relay  men.  because  when  a  man  goes  off  work  and  does 
not  do  his  duty  he  does  not  get  any  pay,  and  out  of  this  vast  number 
the  relay  mesi  who  would  have  to  be  maintained  would  not  exceed  those 
maintained  upon  a  railroad  or  any  great  work  in  this  country.  I  sim- 
ply want  to  bring  out  the  tiict  here  that  Mr.  Treat,  who  is  so  far  alto- 
gether the  best  autliorityupon  this  question  of  labor,  and  has  the  most 
experience  with  it,  holds  here,  as  I  have  read  to  you,  the  cost  of  labor 
in  Nicaragua,  the  cost  of  the  unit  of  labor  for  work,  is  precisely  the  same 
as  it  is  in  the  United  States. 

Now,  what  other  costs  are  there  down  there  which  would  be  greater? 
In  the  iirst  place,  we  do  not  pay  anything  for  the  right  of  way,  we  do 
not  pay  anything  for  the  material,  nor  do  we  pay  anything  for  the 
timber  taken  off  the  public  lands.  It  is  all  given  to  us.  We  do  not 
pay  anything  for  rock  or  sand  or  anything  we  want  there,  and  when  we 
import  things  from  abroad,  we  have  the  right  to  bring  them  in  there 
without  duty.  Onr  rock  cutting  machinery,  hoists,  and  other  machinery 
are  bonglit  in  this  country  or  in  England,  at  the  very  lowest  possible 
price,  and  they  are  delivered  at  Nicaragua  at  not  exceeding  what  it 
costs  in  this  country.  For  instance,  you  can  carry  your  flour  and  all 
provisions  from  New  York  or  New  Orleans  for  less  money  per  barrel  of 
flour,  or  barrel  of  pork,  or  barrel  of  rice,  than  it  costs  to  bring  a  barrel 
of  flour  from  the  great  mills  of  l^Iinneapolis  to  New  York.  We  did  it 
there  for  a  while,  and  I  know  what  it  costs.  The  average  cost  of  sup- 
porting all  these  men  when  we  were  working-  as  high  as  l,(i00  was  a 
little  less  than  30  cents  a  day,  and  they  were  well  fed  and  housed  and 
cared  for,  and  we  sent  them  clothingdown  there  bought  in  the  cheapest 
market  in  the  world  and  sold  it  to  them  at  what  it  cost,  and  they  were 
entirely  satisfied  with  it.  There  is  not  a  single  item  there — take,  for 
instance,  the  item  of  cement;  portland  cement  would  be  taken  there  from 
Belgium,  England,  or  Germany.  There  are  large  works  in  Belgium, 
and  let  us  see  in  regard  to  that. 

It  was  stated  here  to-day,  in  giving  prices  upon  which  the  Govern- 
ment was  having  concrete  work  done,  that  cement  cost  a  certain  amount 
laid  down  at  the  works,  but  in  every  case  that  included  duty  paid  upon 
the  cement  in  this  country;  bnt  that  cement  is  brought  into  Nicaragua, 
if  we  use  it  on  the  canal,  without  paying  any  duty.  Let  us  see  what 
cement  costs.  We  have  used  some  there.  The  price  of  portland  cement 
in  bond  varies  according  to  the  brand.  This  was  written  the  13th  of 
February,  and  the  price  then  was  11.75  to  $1.83  per  l)arrel — that  is,  in 
bond,  duty  unpaid.  In  1889  and  1890,  when  Mr.  Menocal  made  his  last 
estimate,  it  ranged  from  $1.90  to  $1.95. 

Now,  this  cement  can  be  put  in  Greytown  in  shiploads,  as  it  will  have 
to  be,  of  course,  just  as  cheaply  as  you  can  put  it  in  New  York  or  any 
port  of  the  United  States,  and  it  is  put  in  there  without  duty,  and  the 
duty  upon  portland  cement  in  barrels  is8  centsper  100  pounds,  and  there- 
fore you  have  got  to  add  to  all  these  prices  upon  works  in  the  United 
States  the  duty  upon  the  cement.  In  short,  there  is  not  a  thing  required 
in  Nicaragua  that  will  cost  more  there  than  it  will  cost  in  the  United 
States,  and  so  fur  as  iron  and  machinery  of  all  kinds  is  concerned  it 


296  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

goes  in  witliont  duty,  and  it  can  be  taken  here  from  the  United  States, 
or  it  can  be  taken  from  Europe  if  it  can  be  bought  any  cheaper  tli ere. 
The  company  is  under  no  obligations  to  go  to  a  particular  country  for 
its  material,  and  I  submit  that  there  is  not  a  single  item  entering  into 
the  cost  of  this  canal  of  that  kiiul  of  iron  work — finished  machinery — 
dredges,  for  instance,  which  would  not  be  built  there.  They  would  be 
built  here  or  on  the  Clyde,  and  the  locomotives  would  be  built  here  and 
transported,  and  when  the  harbor  is  opened  the  cost  of  freight  from 
New  York  to  Groytown  is  not  nearly  as  much  as  it  is  from  Chicago  to 
New  York  delivered  by  rail,  or  even  by  water. 

"Now,  it  is  admitted  that  tlie  climate  is  not  as  good  there  as  here;  and 
yet,  with  the  class  of  labor  we  have  there,  the  men  who  are  inured,  to 
wit,  the  Jamaica  negroes,  it  is  held  that,  for  the  number  of  dollars  you 
pay,  you  are  getting  just  as  much  labor  down  there  as  here.  But,  sir, 
it  seems'  to  me  evident  to  this  committee  that  the  great  bulk  of  this  work 
is  to  be  done  by  steam  power — by  steam  engines  and  by  electricity — and 
not  by  human  muscle.  These  great  dredging  machines,  of  course, 
employ  but  a  small  number  of  men.  The  crew  upon  this  great  dredge 
you  have  heard  of,  built  by  Mr.  Bales,  consists  of  but  17  men,  and  it 
will  do  the  work  of  more  than  30,000  or  40,000  men,  working  with  shov- 
els and  barrows. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  He  said  60,000. 

Mr.  Miller.  I  need  not  go  to  the  extreme.  Coming  now  to  the  rock 
excavation,  go  to  the  Chicago  Drainage  Canal  and  see  the  excavating 
machines,  drills,  the  cantilevers,  and  the  overhead  cables  for  doing  all 
this  work.  The  amount  of  human  muscle  to  be  used  is  comparatively 
small  at  the  present  day,  and  it  is  much  smaller  than  it  was  when  we 
made  our  estimates.  Now,  we  are  not  complaining  at  the  price  that 
this  Commission  put  upon  the  dredging  work,  although  they  raised  it 
a  little  more  than  ours;  but  it  is  not  a  nuiterial  difference.  The  mate- 
rial difterence  in  the  cost  they  make  out  on  that  part  of  the  business 
comes  from  the  fact  that  they  substantially  double  the  amount  of  dredg- 
ing to  be  done.  A  canal  of  the  same  size  as  the  Suez  or  Manchester, 
according  to  their  judgment,  is  not  sufficient  for  Nicaragua.  It  must 
be  twice  as  wide  through  the  river  and  twice  as  wide  through  the  lake. 
They  tell  us  this  is  done  for  the  passage  of  the  great  battle  ships  which 
we  are  now  engaged  in  building. 

When  the  plan  of  this  canal  was  laid  out  no  such  ships  were  built 
in  the  world.  This  canal  is  laid,  out  large  enough  to  carry  all  the  war 
vessels  in  the  world,  but  the  locks  would  not  be  wide  enough,  although 
wider  than  any  battle  ship,  but  still  they  would  not  be  wide  enough  for 
them  to  pass.  If  the  Government  wants  to  build  it,  how  much  more 
would  it  cost  to  build  a  lock  10  or  15  feet  larger  than  we  have  it!  It 
will  cost  more  to  build  the  gates  and  machinery  about  it,  but  it  is  only 
a  small  item.  It  would  not  add  5  i)er  cent  to  the  cost  of  it.  In  short, 
then,  l  have  shown  you  from  the  best  authority  there  is  the  cost  of  unit 
labor  in  Nicai'agua  is  not  greater  than  it  is  in  the  United  States,  and  I 
do  not  ne«d  to  show  yon,  I  simply  refer  to  the  fact,  that  everything  else 
that  goes  into  that  canal  that  belongs  to  Nicaragua  we  get  without 
charge,  and  everything  we  import  we  buy  in  the  cheapest  market  and 
import  without  any  duties  whaterer,  and,  as  1  have  said  before,  the 
buildings  and  all  the  machinery  and  everything  of  that  kind  will  be 
constructed  in  this  country  or  Euroi)e  and  sent  down  there  and  put 
together. 

I  think  I  have  stated  enough  about  that  now,  Mr.  Chairman.  The 
statement  made  here  yesterday  in  regard  to  the  cost  of  unit  of  labor  in 


NICAKAGUA    CANAL. 


297 


Panama  seems  to  me  was  most  iiiifortuTiate.  The  Commission  tells  us 
that  they  found  no  time  to  take  soundings  upon  the  San  Juan  Eiver 
above  the  Ochoa  Uam,  that  they  had  no  time,  bat  they  did  have  time  at 
Nicaragua  to  take  soundings  upon  the  canal  for  12  or  15  miles,  and 
found  it  to  be  only  lilled  in  4  or  5  feet.  I  do  not  care  about  that.  Do 
not  let  us  dispute  over  small  things.  Days  and  days  have  been  used 
up  here  in  vast  amount  of  stuff  which  amounts  to  nothing  whatever. 
There  seems  to  be  a  great  deal  of  personality  in  it;  why,  I  do  not  know. 
Let  those  who  have  indulged  in  it  explain  it  as  they  desire. 

The  figures  given  forth  for  the  estimated  cost  of  dredging  at  Panama 
were  most  unfortunate.  If  I  am  wrong  in  my  memory  Colonel  Ludlow 
will  correct  me.  I  do  not  remember  any  estimate  for  any  of  that  work 
at  less  than  40  or  50  cents  a  yard  for  any  important  part,  although  there 
may  have  been  some  as  low  as  1^0.  It  seems  to  me  it  ran  from  50  to  00 
cents  a  yard  up  to  a  dollar  in  the  estimates,  according  to  Napoleon 
Bonaparte  Wyse  and  Colonel  Eives,  who  is  in  the  employ  of  the  Canal 
Company  in  the  management  of  the  Panama  Railroad.  Be  that  as  it 
may  be,  I  presume  that  these  figures  were  arrived  at  largely  from  the 
prices  which  were  paid  by  the  Panama  Canal  Company  in  its  heyday, 
when  millions  upon  millions  of  money  were  expended  and  when  it  was 
doing  a  great  anu)unt  of  work. 

Now,  M'hat  was  jiaid  then,  and  let  us  see  what  profits  were  made. 
The  American  Contract  and  Dredging  Company,  which  plant  I  bought 
and  brought  to  Greytown  for  the  i)uri)ose  of  starting  upon  the  work, 
Mr.  Slevin,  the  man  who  organized  that  company,  and  was  the  chief 
manager  during  all  the  years  it  was  at  work  there  at  Panama,  told  me 
the  bulk  of  the  work  was  done  for  2  francs  per  cubic  yard  for  dredging, 
some  of  it  done  for  3  francs,  and  some  of  it  for  more,  but  that  the  great 
bulk  was  somewhere  in  the  neighborhood  of  40  cents  per  cubic  yard  for 
the  dredging,  and  they  built  these  powerful  dredgers  which  we  now 
have,  and  what  was  the  result?  It  violates  the  confidence  of  no  one, 
because  it  is  well  known  in  New  York,  and  can  be  known  by  any  one, 
that  the  company  paid,  during  the  great  bulk  of  the  time  it  was  at 
work,  as  high  as  50  per  cent  dividends  per  month.  Out  of  a  contract 
amounting  to  something  over  $20,000,000  they  divided  over  $10,000,000 
profit  on  the  business,  dUd  the  Lord  only  knows,  sir,  because  the  Paris 
courts  did  not  go  into  it,  how  much  of  the  other  half  they  paid  to  the 
thieves  and  corrui)tors  in  Paris. 

Then  M^iat  are  the  good  of  these  prices,  and  are  these  prices  to  be 
brought  in  here  under  any  kind  of  authority  as  a  criterion  by  which 
the  cost  of  this  canal  is  to  be  figured  upon?  It  seems  to  me  that  it  is 
most  unfortunate  to  bring  it  in  here.  It  has  been  shown — as  I  showed 
before — we  did  a  large  amount  of  dredging  with  these  machines  at  an 
actual  cost  of  11  cents  per  cubic  yard,  and,  mind  you,  we  did  it  under 
disadvantageous  circumstances.  The  company  did  not  have  money 
enough  to  push  the  work,  and  instead  of  having  two  reliefs  of  men  to 
work  the  dredges  night  and  day  we  only  worked  them  ten  hours  per  day, 
and  I  need  not  tell  any  engineer  or  contractor  to  start  one  of  these 
dredges  in  the  morning  takes  anywhere  froin  half  an  hour  to  an  hour, 
and  then  you  have  to  stop  in  the  day  to  get  out  the  water  and  sand,  and 
so  actually  of  the  ten  hours  they  did  not  operate  more  than  nine  hours. 
If  we  could  have  oy^erated  the  dredges  for  twenty-four  hours  ])er  day, 
using  electric  lights,  we  could  have  done  that  dredging  for  at  least  15 
per  cent  less  than  we  did,  and  we  would  have  paid  the  interest  on  the 
investment  and  everything  else  connected  with  it.  Undoubtedly  a 
vast  amount  of  the  cost  of  the  dredges  will   be  sunk,  worn-out.  but 


298  NICARAGUA   CANAL. 

■wlien  you  take  the  millions  upon  millions  of  yards  moved  and  take  the 
cost  of  purchasing  the  dredges  and  divide  up  the  number  of  millions  of 
yards  you  will  find  it  is  an  exceedingly  small  sum. 

ISTow,  then,  I  stated  here  the  other  day  that  when  I  went  over  the  line  of 
the  canal  some  four  or  five  years  ago,  an  English  engineer  by  the  name 
of  Donahlsou  went  with  me.  He  came  as  representing  the  Walker  syn- 
dicate, which  was  building  the  Manchester  Canal.  He  had  been  the  chief 
engineer  of  one  section  on  that  canal.  He  spent  a  month  or  more  at 
Nicaragua,  and  he  came  to  New  York  and  went  over  the  plans  of  the  com- 
pany and  all  our  estimates,  and  went  home  to  London  to  make  his  report. 
Unfortunately  for  us  and  all  concerned,  Mr.  Walker  siiu*e  died,  and  his 
estate,  1  believe,  was  not  sound,  and  the  Barings,  who  had  been  inter- 
ested in  the  matter  and  the  Manchester  Canal,  failed,  and  you  all  know 
in  regard  to  that.  A  few  months  after  that  I  visited  London  in  connec- 
tion with  an  attempt  to  interest  an  English  syndicate  in  this  matter,  and 
there  I  saw  Mr.  Donaldson  and  he  told  me  he  had  made  his  report,  but  it 
was  confidential  and  he  could  not  show  it  to  me.  He  stated  if  it  ever 
came  to  light,  and  I  saw  it,  I  would  be  satisfied  with  it.  I  asked  him  in 
reference  to  the  estimated  cost,  and  lie  told  me  the  estimated  cost  of  the 
canal  was  a  little  more  than  Mr.  Menocal's,  and  there  the  matter  dropped. 

I  make  this  statement,  sir — it  is  not  necessary,  perhaps,  to  take  it  up 
and  to  say  I  am  prepared  to  make  it  on  oath — but  it  api)ears  that  Col- 
onel Ludlow  thought  that  the  credit  of  JMr.  Doimldson  was  in  someway 
being  abused  by  the  company,  and  his  name  was  being  used  to  bolster 
up  this  matter  and  he  ought  to  be  informed  of  it,  and  thus  induced  to 
take  back  whatever  he  may  have  said  if  he  said  anything;  and  refer- 
ring to  Mr.  Ludlow's  testimony  we  find  this  letter  of  the  14th  of  April, 
ISOG,  That  has  been  read;  I  will  not  take  up  your  time  to  read  it 
again,  but  I  submit  to  this  committee  that  there  is  not  any  denial  in 
there  of  anything  1  have  said,  not  in  the  slightest  degree.  I  defy  any- 
one to  tind  it.  If  it  is  anything  it  is  simply  to  throw  discredit  upon 
his  own  estimates.  He  admits,  as  he  did  to  me  and  as  I  knew,  he  did 
not  verify  Mr.  JMenocal's  estimate  of  quantities.  He  could  not  do  that, 
of  course.  He  took  the  estimates  of  cpiantities  as  made  by  our  chief 
engineer  and  then  he  got  his  unit  -of  price  for  doing  the  work  upon 
investigation  in  Nicaragua  of  what  our  company  was  doing  when  he 
was  there.  We  were  then  building  that  railroad  and  it  was  nearly 
finished. 

I  do  not  propose  to  read  that  letter.  Mr.  Donaldson  must  have  had 
the  idea  that  someone  was  attempting  to  use  him.  1  do  not  know  how 
it  has  been  used.  1  hiive  never  used  it  in  any  other  way  than  I  am 
using  it  now.  I  have  stated  it  rei)eatedly  to  peoi)]e  who  have  asked  if 
other  engineers  had  looked  into  the  question,  and  1  stated  that  Mr. 
Donaldson  had,  and  gave  his  statement  just  as  I  have  given  it  to  you 
now.  He  says  here  that  Colonel  Ludlow  has  been  ofiicially  informed 
as  to  the  use  that  the  coni]iany  was  making  of  his  statement.  What 
that  ollicial  information  means  or  was  I  do  not  know.  Whether  it 
means  that  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  the  War  Depart- 
ment, had  informed  him  oflicially  of  it,  or  what  else  it  is,  I  do  not 
know.  That  is  a  matter  of  no  consequence,  however,  but  1  will  not 
leave  it  there.  As  my  veracity  in  regard  to  this  subject  has  been 
called  in  cpiestion  by  Colonel  Ludlow,  I  came  here  preijared,  as  I  did 
in  the  case  of  Mr.  Treat,  to  prove  everything  1  said. 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  299 

21   COURTLANDT   STREET, 

Mtv  York,  May  1, 1896. 
Hon.  Warner  Miller, 

Arlington  Hotel,  Washington,  D.  C. 

My  Dear  Sir:  Referring  to  tlie  question  you  aslved  me  to-day  about  Mr.  Donald- 
sou,  the  English  eugineer,  who  went  with  you  and  Mr.  Menocal  over  the  line  of  the 
canal,  I  desire  to  saj^ : 

That  in  1894,  under  the  auspices  of  the  reorganization  committee,  there  was  an 
auxiliary  committee  of  the  Nicaragua  Canal  formed  in  London,  of  which  Sir  Arthur 
Forward,  Sir  Andrew  Clark,  Sir  Edward  Corbin,  and  others,  were  members.  At  a 
session  of  that  committee  Mr.  I'oualdson  appeared  and  made  to  the  committee,  in 
my  presence,  a  statement  as  to  his  knowledge,  information,  and  belief  as  to  the  feasi- 
bility and  cost  of  the  Nicaragua  Canal  on  the  lines  and  plans  of  Mr.  Menocal. 

While  Mr.  Donaldson  said  that  he  had  not  gone  over  the  computations  fully,  but 
taking  the  computations  as  accurate,  under  the  survey's  of  Mr.  Menocal,  he  had  no 
doubt  in  his  mind,  lirst,  that  the  line  of  construction  was  thoroughly  feasible ;  second, 
that  the  canal  could  be  built  substantially  within  the  estimate  of  the  company, 
although,  taking  in  interest  and  a  larger  percentage  of  contingencies,  he  should  fix 
the  total  sum  for  which  the  canal  could  be  built  at  £20,000,000. 

This  statement,  as  I  recollect,  was  spread  out  upon  the  minutes  of  the  committee, 
and  I  have  sent  for  copies  of  those  minutes,  with  which  I  will  furnish  you. 

]\Iy  memory,  however,  is  most  distinct  ui)on  this  subject,  and  I  know  that  Mr. 
Donaldson  stated  substantially  what  I  have  said  in  most  emphatic  terms. 
Very  truly,  yours. 

Smith  M.  Weed. 

Mr.  Miller.  Mr.  Weed  is  known  to  everybody  on  this  committee, 
and  to  very  many  people  in  this  conntry,  for  that  matter,  and  I  do  not 
believe  anybody  will  undertake  to  gainsay  that  statement.  So  much 
for  that,  as  I  do  not  care  to  carry  it  farther.  But  it  is  most  remarkable 
tliat  statements  made  of  myself  and  Mr.  Menocal  and  others  should 
have  been  called  in  question  by  this  Commission,  for  what  purpose  I  do 
not  understand,  unless  it  is  to  create  a  prejudice  against  us  throughout 
the  country.  Let  that  stand  as  it  may.  I  have  never  troubled  myself 
l)ersonall3 ,  politically,  or  otherwise  by  attacks  of  that  kind,  but  when 
it  comes  in  connection  with  this  comjiany  and  before  a  committee  of 
Congress,  of  which  1  once  had  the  honor  to  be  a  member,  I  like  to 
protect  myself  with  facts,  and  not  with  general  statements. 

Now,  let  us  see  what  there  is  in  this  whole  thing  and  where  we  are. 
Concessions  were  obtained  from  Nicaragua  by  a  number  of  gentlemen, 
and  by  them  a  company  was  organized  and  they  proceeded  to  raise 
some  |f,(M)(»,()00  or  .i?5,000,000  and  send  a  corps  of  engineers  to  sur- 
vey the  route.  It  had  been  surveyed  previously  by  the  Government, 
and  Colonel  Childs  and  a  large  number  of  men  all  over  the  world  had 
investigated  it,  either  as  engineers  or  in  the  ordinary  way  of  i^assing 
over  the  line.  The  Congress  of  the  United  States  concluded,  or 
thought — some  of  them,  at  least — that  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  ought  to  have  this  canal  and  ought  to  control  it  and  build  it,  and 
so  they  organized  a  Commission  to  go  down  there  and  investigate  all 
our  work  and  to  report  upon  it  as  to  whether  it  was  feasible  and  what 
it  would  cost,  and  now  what  is  the  result,  and  what  is  the  difference 
between  the  company  and  the  Commission  to  get  at  it? 

There  has  been  a  lot  of  verbiage  and  a  great  deal  of  personality  and 
talk  here  which  in  no  way  affects  this  question  at  all.  In  the  first  place, 
the  Commission  criticised  the  entrance  to  Grey  town  Harbor,  saying  it 
should  be  moved  farther  to  the  east.  The  answer  of  the  company  to 
that  is  absolutely  perfect.  Tt  can  not  be  moved  any  farther  that  way, 
because  the  Government  of  Nicaragua  will  not  permit  it,  because  the 
concession  compels  us  to  make  it  on  Nicaragua  soil,  and  when  you  pass 
to  the  point  you  want  to  get  according  to  the  Commission  you  go  upon 
the  territory  of  Costa  Kica.     Colonel  Ludlow  states  they  paid  no  atteu- 


300  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

tion  to  tliat,  that  tliey  knew  iiotliing  about  that  law;  they  did  it  purely 
and  simply  as  engineers,  without  regard  to  the  concession.  Let  us  pass 
by  that.  It  is  admitted  that  by  building  the  piers  out  far  enough 
undoubtedly  a  channel  could  be  maintained  by  dredging,  and  that  is  the 
way  channels  are  maintained  in  all  sea  canals  at  their  outlet.  It  was 
thought  that  i)erhaps  there  should  be  a  slight  change  of  the  line  across 
the  lagoon.  That  is  of  no  consequence.  "VVe  are,  however,  entirely 
satisfied  that  the  line  proposed  by  the  company  is  better  than  the  line 
proposed  by  them. 

AVhen  we  come  to  the  locks,  they  say  they  are  possible  but  ought  to 
be  larger  in  order  to  admit  battle  ships.  All  right:  build  them  larger 
to  take  in  battle  ships  or  imaginary  ships  that  may  be  built  in  fifty  years 
from  now.  Then  we  go  through  the  basins,  and  that  is  all  right.  Tliey 
can  be  built;  there  is  no  doubt  about  that.  They  can  be  built  across 
there  with  rock  and  clay  and  by  making  i)roper  wasteweirs,  etc.;  that 
can  be  done.  When  we  come  to  the  key  of  the  situation,  the  Ochoa 
Dam — I  will  not  take  up  time  in  regard  to  that,  as  it  has  been  discussed 
by  the  hour — but  what  is  the  final  result"?  The  final  result  is  that  the 
Ochoa  Dam  can  be  built,  a  rock-filled  dam,  by  properly  protecting  the 
abutments  on  the  sides  so  that  the  water  can  not  get  around  them,  but 
the  Commission  think  it  would  be  better  to  build  this  dam  so  high  the 
water  could  not  go  over  it,  and  turn  the  water  over  wasteweirs  to  be 
built  on  the  San  Carlos. 

Now,  we  do  not  object  to  that,  and  what  would  have  been  done  when 
the  company  came  to  put  a  contract  for  the  Ochoa  Dam  and  this  canal? 
Mr.  IMenocal  perfectly  understood  and  everybody  in  the  company  under- 
stood that  we  never  should  have  given  out  any  contracts  at  all  until 
after  we  had  organized  a  board  of  consulting  engineers  of  the  ablest 
men  we  could  fiiul  in  the  world,  and  all  of  these  i)roblems  would  have 
been  submitted  to  them,  and  if  they  had  said  it  was  safe  to  build  this 
dam  and  use  it  as  a  weir  and  let  the  water  run  over  it  we  should  have 
done  so.  If  they  had  said  it  was  safer  to  build  it  high  so  that  the  water 
should  never  go  over  it  and  make  wasteweirs  to  turn  the  water  out,  the 
decision  of  the  board  would  have  been  that  that  should  be  done.  Of 
course,  Mr.  MenocaFs  estimateswere  based  upon  apian  which  he  believed 
to  be  feasible,  but  ^Ir.  ^Vlenocal  never  asked  that  the  company  should 
undertake  a  great  work  like  that  without  submitting  it  to  other  engi- 
neers. We  go  to  the  river  and  the  question  is  only  a  question  of  clean- 
ing out  the  rapids  and  dredging  the  river  to  a  sufiicient  depth.  That 
can  be  done.  I  have  bids  from  responsible  people  who  will  do  it  and  at 
our  price. 

Now,  when  you  come  to  the  lake,  there  is  mud  running  out  14  miles. 
It  is  a  difficult  job,  undoubtedly,  but  I  do  not  think  the  Commission  or 
anybody  has  any  idea  or  doubt  but  that  it  can  be  done.  They  may  think 
it  will  cost  more  than  we  do,  and  they  put  a  price  on  that  of  I'O  or  30 
cents  a  yard,  I  do  not  know  which;  but  I  know  I  can  build  a  dredge,  or 
take  one  of  the  modern  dredges,  and  move  that  mud  out  of  the  line  of 
that  canal  for  less  than  5  cents  a  yard.  Of  course  no  contractor  would 
agree  to  do  it  for  that  price,  because  he  would  not  go  there  and  do  it 
for  that,  but  it  is  being  done  for  less  than  that.  I  know  the  contractors 
taking  mud  out  of  iNIobile  Harbor  are  getting  7  cents,  and  they  tell  us 
they  are  satisfied  with  their  profits.     Now,  that  could  be  done  there. 

Then  we  come  to  the  western  side,  and  what  do  we  find  there?  It  is 
perfectly  even  and  straight  work  from  the  lake  down.  Nobody  doubts 
that  at  all.  Then  we  come  to  the  Tola  Dasin  and  the  Tola  Dam.  The 
Commission  tells  us  from  the  infornmtion  they  have  that  the  Tola  Dam 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  301 

can  not  be  built.  Very  well,  they  may  be  correct  and  they  may  not. 
They  have  not  got  sufficient  information  to  determine  whether  it  can 
be  or  not.  The  company  have  made  borings  there,  and  then  u])on  an 
upper  Hue  raised  above  that,  and  though  we  did  not  get  the  foundation 
we  wanted,  the  last  work  1  ordered  done  upon  tlie  canal  was,  I  sent  IVIr. 
H.  0.  Miller  and  a  gang  of  men  with  diamond  drills  to  work  upon  the 
site  of  the  Tola  Dam,  and  kept  them  there  for  several  months,  and  it 
was  not  satisfactory;  and,  while  we  had  not  tinished  when  the  money 
of  the  company  gave  out,  they  got  a  good  deal  of  information. 

Why  should  we  stop  this  great  work  or  hold  it  for  a  minute?  The 
company  had  an  alternative,  and  that  was  simply  to  build  the  canal  in 
excavation  right  through  the  basin,  the  easiest  place  in  the  world  to 
take  the  canal.  The  object  of  building  the  Tola  Dam  was  because  of 
that  large  basin  there,  to  save  excavation,  and  it  was  cheaper  to  build  a 
dam.  If  it  is  not  safe  to  build  a  dam,  then  abandon  it;  but  I  infer  from 
Colonel  Ludlow's  statement  the  company  never  had  any  such  alterna- 
tive. That  was  an  alternative  that  was  i)ut  to  me  the  day  I  came  into 
the  company.  I  said  to  Mr.  Menocal,  "What  about  this  dam;  can  it  be 
built?"  He  said,  "I  think  that  it  can,  but  we  do  not  know;  but  if  it  can 
not  be  built  we  can  build  it  by  excavation  just  as  building  a  canal 
through  any  low  country." 

Mr.  Treat  went  there  and  told  me  he  would  build  the  dam  without 
any  trouble  providing  the  foundation  was  there;  but  that  we  did  not 
know  and  nobody  knew.  And  then,  when  you  come  to  the  harbor  at 
Brito,  there  does  not  seem  to  be  any  doubt  in  the  minds  of  the  Commis- 
sion that  can  be  built.  They  say  it  ought  to  be  moved  a  few  thousand 
or  a  few  hundred  feet  farther  south,  for  some  reason  I  do  not  know 
what;  but  for  that  matter  it  would  have  been  presented  to  the  board  of 
consulting  engineers  on  this  work  and  they  would  have  adopted  the 
plan  or  not.  No  great  work  of  this  kind,  or  any  great  work,  like  a 
bridge,  the  Brooklyn  bridge,  or  the  North  liiver  bridge,  or  the  East 
liiver  bridge  projected,  is  built  without  the  plans  being  submitted  to 
consulting  engineers  after  the  company  has  made  its  plans;  the  plans 
are  submitted  to  the  ablest  men  they  can  get  as  consulting  engineers, 
and  if  they  approve  it,  it  goes  along  just  as  it  is  proposed,  and  if  the 
consulting  engineers  find  that  certain  changes  ought  to  be  made,  the 
company  makes  them,  and  that  is  what  would  have  been  done  in  this 
case  or  in  any  other  great  work.  No  man  ever  knew  of  a  railroad  even 
ten  miles  long  being  built  without  some  changes  in  it  after  the  original 
survey  was  made.  How  about  the  Pacific  Eailroad  or  any  great  work 
of  this  character? 

But,  ]Mr.  Chairman,  this  work  is  to  be  delayed.  Why?  Because  we 
have  not  sufficient  evidence  to  do  anything.  I  submit  from  a  careful 
examination  of  this  report  that  the  statement  that  I  have  just  made 
regarding  it  that  the  points  of  diiference  between  the  company  and  the 
Commission  have  been  fairly  stated,  and  when  fairly  stated  there  is  not 
a  ground  to  stand  on  why  the  work  should  be  delayed.  They  want 
more  data  about  water.  They  tell  us  we  do  not  know  how  high  the 
water  rises.  We  do  know  how  high  it  has  risen,  but  we  do  not  know 
how  high  it  will  rise  next  year.  They  tell  us  that  the  statement  I 
made  of  the  rise  of  the  river  being  6  feet  is  incorrect  and  that  it  rises 
18  or  20  feet  at  Machuca  Eapids.  I  gave  the  average  rise  through  the 
river,  gained  from  talking  with  captains  living  and  working  on  the  river 
for  years.  If  Colonel  Ludlow  will  go  with  me,  I  can  show  him  on  the 
Hudson  Biver  and  Black  Biver  where,  at  the  foot  of  the  high  falls  on 
Black  River,  the  water  rises  25  feet  at  the  foot  of  the  falls,  whereas 


302  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

above  the  falls  it  rises  only  6  feet,  and  2  miles  below  it  rises  I  think 
only  8  or  10  feet.  Two  weeks  ago,  if  you  had  gone  to  my  mill,  I  could 
have  shown  you  15  feet  of  water  rise  at  the  foot  of  Palmers  Falls,  and 
a  mile  and  a  lialf  below  the  rise  is  less  than  6  feet. 

Everybody  knows  that  water  piles  nj)  at  the  foot  of  the  falls  and 
where  the  channel  is  dammed  up  it  rises  there.  The  moment  the  dam 
is  built  the  falls  disappear,  and  instead  of  a  narrow  channel  that  whole 
river  becomes  a  great  lake,  whose  boundaries  are  not  yet  known,  as  they 
have  not  been  reached  by  a  survey.  By  having  that  much  more  room 
for  holding  the  rainfall,  the  rise  would  be  less  rapid  and  the  descent 
"would  be  less  rapid.  I  understood  Colonel  Ludlow  to  say  we  could  not 
maintain  this  canal  at  110  feet,  that  because  of  the  waste  weirs  it  would 
run  dowu.  Anybody  knows  that  weirs  are  built  to-day  movable,  and 
when  a  great  flood  of  water  comes  the  weirs  are  opened  and  it  passes 
over  it,  and  when  there  comes  a  time  of  low  water  the  weirs  are  closed 
and  it  is  held  back.  The  lake  can  be  held  at  110  feet,  provided  there  is 
enough  surplus  water  in  the  lake  to  run  the  canal,  and  it  is  estimated  it 
does  not  take  10  per  cent  of  it.  Mr.  Chairman,  I  must  take  the  4  o'clock 
train  with  my  lamily,  and  I  am  greatly  obliged  for  your  permitting  me 
to  come  here  again  to  correct  these  statements  made  in  regard  to  my 
former  statement. 

Thereupon  the  committee  adjourned  to  meet  at  2  p.  m.  on  Wednesday, 
May  6, 1806. 

Wednesday,  May  6, 1896. 
The  Committee  on  Interstate  and  Foreign  Commerce  this  day  met, 
Hon.  William  P.  Hepburn  in  the  chair. 

STATEMENT   OF   MR.  A.  G.  MENOCAL. 

The  Chairman.  Mr.  Menocal,  we  will  now  hear  you. 

Mr.  Menooal.  Mr.  Chairman  and  members  of  the  committee,  I  have 
been  directed  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  to  report  to  the  chairman 
of  the  committee,  which  I  have  now  the  honor  to  do,  and  I  Avill  be  very 
glad  to  comply  with  your  wishes  in  any  matter  you  may  desire. 

The  Chairman.  I  suppose  the  order  was  made  for  the  purpose  of 
giving  you  an  opportunity,  if  you  desire  to  avail  yourself  of  it,  to  make 
any  statement  to  the  coujmittee  in  connection  with  the  subject  under 
inquiry. 

Mr.  Menocal.  A  great  deal  has  been  said  before  this  committee  which 
I  have  not  had  an  opportunity  to  read  or  to  hear.  I  have  heard  certaiii 
statements  which  have  been  made  here  by  Colonel  Ludlow,  however,  and 
upon  those  statements  I  would  like  to  make  a  few  remarks,  and  after- 
wards, if  the  members  of  the  committee  who  have  heard  the  whole  of  the 
testimony  desire  to  ask  me  any  questions  in  regard  to  Colonel  Ludlow's 
statement,  [  will  be  very  glad  to  reply  to  them  to  the  best  of  my  ability. 
1  stated  when  I  was  before  the  committee  but  a  few  days  ago  that  the 
Nicaragna  Canal  board  had  spent  two  weeks,  more  or  less,  in  the 
examination  of  the  line  of  the  canal.  When  1  made  this  statement,  I 
had  in  view  only  the  line  of  the  canal  as  located  b^'  the  Nicaragua 
Canal  Comjiany,  and  which  I  supi)osed  this  board  had  been  called  upon 
to  examine.  I  was  not  considering  at  the  time  the  whole  country  of 
Nicaragua. 

You  hear  frequently  travelers  who  have  been  through  Nicaragua, 
having  landed  on  the  T*aciflc  Coast,  traveled  across  the  country  and 
come  out  at  Greytown,  tell  you  they  have  been  over  the  country  and 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  303 

tbat  the  cniial  route  is  tlioroiighly  practicable,  that  they  Lave  been  all 
over  it,  over  every  foot  of  tlie  ground,  and  that  there  can  be  no  doubt 
as  to  its  practicability;  but  it  was  not  that  kind  of  examination  1  had 
in  mind  wlien  I  said  the  board  had  spent  only  two  weeks,  more  or  less, 
in  the  examination  of  the  line.  I  had  in  view  such  an  examination  as 
an  engineer  would  have  to  make  of  the  physical  conditions  on  the  spot, 
so  as  to  be  able  to  ascertain  and  to  weigh  the  difficulties  and  facilities 
that  those  conditions  would  present  in  the  construction  of  such  a  work 
as  this,  and  this  examination,  I  know  from  the  nature  of  the  ground, 
can  only  be  made  and  this  information  can  only  be  obtained  by  going 
over  every  foot  of  the  ground. 

I  said  in  my  statcnient  that  two  weeks  more  or  less  had  been  spent 
in  the  examination  of  the  canal  route  and  its  vicinity.  When  I  said  its 
vicinity,  I  meant  such  parts  of  the  country  as  will  be  more  or  less 
affected  by  the  construction  of  the  canal — that  is  to  say,  such  points 
along  the  canal  route  where  embankments  were  to  be  built.  They  are 
not  on  the  axis  of  the  canal,  but  nevertheless  form  a  part  of  the 
project  of  the  canal  itself.  ISTow,  I  will  read  for  the  information  of  the 
comn)ittee,  and  in  order  to  vindicate  myself  as  to  the  statement  I  made 
before,  a  concise  synopsis  of  the  movements  of  the  board  while  in 
Nicaragua,  and  then  I  will  leave  it  to  the  committee  to  decide  whether 
I  was  correct  or  not  in  my  statement.  The  board  arrived  at  Nicaragua 
on  the  13th  of  ]May,  and  remained  at  Greytown  until  the  21st.  They 
left  (ireytown  on  the  21st  for  the  lake  and  river,  tnking  the  steamer  at 
Greytow]!  and  going  up  the  river  to  the  lake.  They  arrived  at  the 
lake  on  the  23d  of  ]\lay,  having  spent  two  days  in  going  up  the  river, 
of  which  one  day  was  spent  on  that  portion  of  the  river  which  is  not 
affected  by  the  construction  of  the  canal. 

The  24th  was  employed  by  the  board  in  making  a  trip  up  the  Eio 
Frio,  which  empties  into  the  lake,  for  a  distance  of  perhajis  G  or  10 
miles — the  exact  distance  is  immaterial — and  then  they  went  about  5 
miles  into  the  lake  and  returned  to  Fort  San  Carlos.  The  steamer 
which  was  to  take  the  board  across  the  lake  was  not  there,  ard  it  was 
repeatedly  stated  by  the  members  of  the  board  in  my  presence  and  in 
the  presence  of  those  who  were  around  that  the  time  from  the  evening 
of  the  24th  until  the  evening  of  the  26th,  when  the  steanier  arrived  at 
San  Carlos  to  take  them  across  the  lake,  was  absolutely  wasted  time; 
80  they  were  two  days  there  whicli  were  declared  by  the  members  of  the 
board  to  be  a  loss  of  time  to  them.  They  left  Fort  San  Carlos  on  the 
evening  of  the  2()tli.  On  the  morning  of  the  27th  they  arrived  at  San 
Jorge,  on  the  west  shore  of  the  lake,  and  the  assistants  of  the  board 
landed  there  with  certain  i)rovisions,  utensils,  etc.,  and  the  board  con- 
tinued on  their  way  to  the  capital,  at  Managua.  They  made  a  visit  to 
Grenada  and  jManagua  and  returned  on  the  following  day,  in  the 
evening,  to  Rivas. 

When  I  was  before  the  committee  previously,  I  had  no  notes  with 
me.  I  did  not  know  at  the  time  what  was  the  nature  of  the  investiga- 
tion to  be  made  b^'the  committee  and  did  not  come  prepared  to  answer 
certain  questions  which  were  put  to  me.  I  had  been  seriously  ill  for 
ten  days,  having  left  my  bed  to  come  here,  hardly  able  to  stand  up; 
my  memory,  perhaps,  was  not  quite  clear,  and  as  1  had  no  opportunity 
to  correct  my  notes  they  were  printed  containing  numerous  errors,  as  I 
had  the  honor  to  report  to  the  chairman  of  the  committee  soon  alter  I 
saw  the  printed  testimony.  I  said  then  that  the  board  returned  fi'om 
Grenada  to  liivas  and  spent  two  or  three  days  in  hunting  for  horses  or 
other  meaujs  pf  transportation  to  go  to  Brito  to  commence  the  ^xami- 


304  NirARAGUA    C\NAL. 

nation  of  tlie  canal  line.  That  was  a  niistnlce.  They  did  not  spend 
two  or  tlnee  days  in  Ivivas  at  tlie  time;  bnt  that  is  inunaterial,  becanse 
1  will  show  by  the  records  that  they  weie  in  Kivas  five  daj^s  instead  of 
three. 

Mr.  DoOLiTTLE.  Dnrin.u'  what  tinie"^ 

Mr.  Menocai..  I  will  let  yon  know.  I  am  going-  to  follow  it  up,  so 
there  will  be  no  misunderstanding  about  this.  INly  veracity  has  been 
questioned,  and  I  want  to  show  the  committee  Avhat  foundation  I  had 
for  maldng  the  statement,  and  will  then  leave  it  to  the  committee  to  say 
whether  1  was  correct  or  not.  They  left  llivas  on  the  morning  of  the 
following  day  and  arrived  near  Brito  about  4  or  5  oVlock  in  the  after- 
noon and  went  into  camp.  Up  to  that  time  nothing  had  been  seen  of 
the  canal  route.  We  had  crossed  the  line  at  one  point  on  horseback 
and  traveled  by  roads  entirely  away  from  the  line  of  the  canal  to  this 
c<am[)ing  i)lace,  and  spent  the  night  there.  On  the  following  day,  in  the 
morning,  they  started  for  Brito.  They  arrived  at  the  harbor  of  Brito 
at,  1  believe,  8  or  9  o'clock,  and  the  examination  of  the  canal  ronte  was 
commenced  there. 

It  is  useless  to  follow  the  board  step  by  step;  but  I  will  say,  and  if  I 
am  mistaken  I  hope  to  be  corrected  right  here,  that  the  examination  was 
commenced  on  the  oOth,  and  that  the  board  returned  to  Kivas  on  the 
evening  of  the  1st  of  June,  having  spent  three  days  between  Brito  and 
the  lake  in  the  examination  of  that  portion  of  the  canal  route.  Some 
portions  of  the  line  were  not  examined.  That  section  running  through 
the  ]n-oposed  basin  of  Tola  was  not  examined  by  the  board.  They 
traveled  by  the  road  on  the  hills;  but  that  is  of  no  consequence,  so  I 
will  call  that  the  vicinity  of  the  line,  and  I  count  those  three  days  as 
spent  in  the  examination  of  the  canal  route. 

The  board,  as  I  said,  returned  to  Kivas  on  the  1st  of  June,  and 
remained  there  until  the  6th.  They  started  on  the  evening  of  the  (Jth, 
arriving  at  Ochoa  on  the  afternoon  of  the  Otli  of  June.  Immediately 
after  arriving  there  they  started  to  make  some  examination  of  the 
surioundings.  On  the  following  day  they  went  up  the  ridge  lines  of 
the  proposed  basin  of  the  Ban  Carlos,  and  si)ent  two  days  there  They 
came  back  to  camp  late  in  the  afternoon  of  the  second  day,  the  11th, 
and  on  the  ll-*th  they  started  on  the  examination  of  the  route  from 
Ochoa  to  Greytown.  Six  days  were  spent  in  the  examination  of  that 
portion  of  the  line  from  Ochoa  to  Greytown,  arriving  at  Greytown  on 
the  aftermion  of  the  18th.  The  board  left  Greytown  for  the  United 
States  on  the  24th. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  The  24th  of  what  month"? 

Mr,  ]\Ienocal.  Of  June.    Conse(]uently,  yon  will  see 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  For  the  United  States  or  Panama? 

Mr.  MioNOCAL.  I  mean  on  their  way,  ])ractically,  to  the  United  States. 
They  touched  at  Costa  Kica  and  went  to  Panama,  but  I  umlerstood 
they  were  on  their  way  home,  touching  at  other  places.  I  had  nothing 
to  do  with  that,  and  it  is  immaterial  where  they  went,  and  I  do  not 
know.  Now,  if  you  look  over  these  different  dates  and  add  the  time 
spent  on  the  route  of  the  canal  you  Avill  find  they  arrived  at  Nicaragua 
on  the  13tli  of  JNlay,  and  leaving  on  the  24th  of  June  the  board  was 
forty-one  days  in  the  country.  Of  those  forty-one  days,  fourteen  days 
were  spent  in  (Jreytown  and  five  days  in  Kivas.  That  makes  nineteen 
days;  one  day  visiting  the  capital  makes  twenty  days;  one  day  trav- 
eling from  Kivas  to  Brito  to  commence  the  examination  of  the  canal 
route  makes  twenty  one;  three  days  traveling  over  the  portions  of  the 
country  not  affected  by  the  construction  of  the  canal  makes  twenty- 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  305 

four  (lays,  and  two  days  at  Sau  Carlos  makes  twenty-six.  If  yon 
deduct  that  from  forty-one  days  I  think  yon  find  that  the  board  devoted 
to  the  examination  of  tlie  canal  hne  from  the  Pacific  to  the  Athintic, 
or  vice  versa,  as  one  may  call  it,  fifteen  days,  inclndino- the  examination 
of  such  portions  of  the  axis  of  the  canal  as  were  ^one  over,  and  also 
the  sites  of  the  dams,  embankments,  etc.  That  is  all  I  have  to  say  in 
that  regard,  and  I  think  my  diary  is  correct  in  every  resi)ect. 

There  is  anotlier  <iuestion  in  which  my  veracity  has  also  been  ques- 
tioned here.  It  has  been  stated  here  that  the  engineer  members  of 
this  board  were  the  first  engineers  who  visited  a  certain  portion  of  this 
line. 

Mr.  Sheiiman.  The  only  engineers,  it  was  stated. 

Mr.  Men()(;al.  I  am  glad  you  correct  me,  because  I  onl}^  get  this 
from  hearsay,  as  I  have  not  seen  the  testimony  sufficiently  to  enable 
nie  to  pick  out  from  it  what  is  essential  and  deserves  consideration.  I 
have  been  told  that  the  statement  has  been  made  here  that  this  board 
are  the  only  engineers  who  have  visited  some  section  of  tlie  Nicaragua 
Canal  line,  that  section  being-  between  the  Dauta  and  Nicholson  streams 
along  the  line  of  the  embankments  of  the  San  Francisco. 

I  want  to  say  to  the  committee  positively,  and  J  can  take  oath,  if 
necessary,  that  I  am  the  first  engineer  that  ever  explored  that  section 
of  the  country,  and  I  do  not  think  I  will  be  mistaken  when  1  say  I  am 
the  first  educated  white  man  who  went  ux^  the  San  Francisco  and 
Nicholson  creeks;  I  first  did  so  in  1873.  I  was  trying  to  find  a  line 
more  or  less  directly  from  Ochoa  to  Greytown.  Up  to  that  time  all  the 
routes  ])r<iposed  for  a  canal  across  Nicaragua  had  followed  closely  the 
bank  of  the  river.  I  knew  the  line  was  a  long  one,  and  there  were  a 
great  many  engineering  diliticulties  connected  with  it,  and  I  was  trying 
to  find  a  path  through  these  ranges  of  foothills  of  the  San  Francisco 
which  would  enable  me  to  locate  a  line  more  or  less  direct  from  Grey- 
town  to  Ochoa.  jNIy  first  examination,  as  1  said,  was  in  1873.  In  1876 
I  devoted  a  number  of  days  again  to  the  exploration  of  that  section  of 
the  country.  I  was  very  much  encouraged  by  this  examimition.  I  had 
also  examined  in  1870  the  upper  portion  of  the  valley  of  the  Deseado 
from  Greytown,  which,  together  Avith  the  preliminary  examination  I  had 
previously  made,  convinced  me  that  a  i)ath  existed  between  those  hills 
through  which  1  could  locate  a  in^actical  line  for  the  building  of  a  canal 
from  Ochoa  to  Greytown. 

In  1885  this  matter  was  brought  before  the  Navy  Department,  if  I 
remember  correctly,  by  Admiral  Ammen,  who  had  followed  this  scheme 
from  its  inception,  and  he  suggested  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  that 
I  be  sent  to  Nicaragua  to  run  a  line  across  that  country  and  see  if  such 
a  canal  route  could  be  located  there.  I  was  ordered  to  Nicaragua  in 
charge  of  a  party  of  engineers  to  make  surveys.  I  there  ran  a  line  from 
Ochoa  to  the  divide.  1  bad  another  party  running  across  the  divide  and 
from  Greytown  to  the  divide.  The  results  of  these  examinations  made 
by  my  assistants  and  myself  were  such  as  to  demonstrate  that  the  canal 
route  was  practical  and  could  be  located.  Ol  course,  the  location  then 
was  only  a  ])reliminary  one,  but  sufticient  to  satisfy  us  that  the  phys- 
ical conditions  Mere  such  as  would  enable  us  to  locate  a  canal  across 
that  country.  I  returned  to  the  United  States,  and  this  report  was 
X)ublished. 

Some  gentlemen  interested  in  the  Nicaragua  Canal  were  very  nuich 
encouraged  by  the  results  obtained  by  this  investigation,  and  they 
organized  an  association,  which  later  obtained  a  concession  from  Nica- 
ragua, and  at  last  a  company  was  organized  for  the  construction  of  the 

N  c 20 


306  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

oaiial.  I  was  tlicii  appointed  chief  engineer  of  tin's  company,  and  we 
then  made  a  careful  and  what  we  call  the  final  location  of  the  route, 
such  as  was  required  in  the  concession.  In  making  this  location,  the 
engineer  who  Avas  in  charge  of  the  location  of  that  portion  of  the  San 
Francisco  Valley,  not  being  thoroughly  fiimiliar  with  the  ground,  found 
considerable  difficulty  in  locating  the  foothills  that  should  form  the 
base  of  embankments  which  had  been  proposed,  and  while  I  was 
engaged  in  the  construction  of  the  gun  shops  at  Washington  and  other 
works  of  the  Navy  Department  the  report  came  from  this  engineer  that 
they  had  been  unable  to  locate  these  hills  and  establish  the  practica- 
bility of  this  line  of  end)ankment. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLK.  What  are  those  hills! 

Mr.  Menooal.  They  are  the  foothills  Avhich  now  form  the  base  of  the 
embankments. 

I\Ir.  ])oOL,iTTLi<].  Between  the  canal  and  the  river? 

Mr.  Menocal.  IJetween  the  canal  and  the  river.  I  went  to  Secretary 
Whitney  and  stated  that  my  reputation,  as  well  as  the  plan  of  the 
canal,  depended,  in  my  opinion,  upon  the  solution  of  this  problem  then 
before  us.  I  had  been  over  the  country  and  knew  the  hiils  were  there, 
but  the  vegetation  is  so  dense  that  you  could  not  see  them  until 
directly  before  you,  and  these  engineers,  having  never  been  over  the 
country  before,  found  considerable  difficulty  in  finding  the  hills  upon 
which  we  proposed  to  build  the  embankments.  Secretary  Whitney 
gave  me  permission  to  proceed  at  once  to  Nicaragua.  I  obtained  leave 
at  4  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  from  him,  and  I  started  the  next  day.  I 
arrived  at  Nicaragua,  and  I  devoted  myself  to  the  examination  and 
location  of  all  these  hills,  and  with  three  parties  of  engineers  started 
to  develop  and  connect  them  so  as  to  obtain  a  chain  or  line  of  embank- 
ments, with  which  we  proposed  to  hold  the  water  in  this  artificial 
basin. 

Mr.  ])00LiTTLE.  I  wish  you  would  state  about  your  going  up  the 
river  at  that  time,  and  about  what  yunnt  you  stopped. 

Mr.  Menooal.  Our  headquarters  were  then  at  the  mouth  of  the  river 
San  Francisco.  If  you  Avill  allow  me  to  point  it  out,  my  headquarters 
were  at  these  islands  you  see  here,  and  I  woidd  take  a  canoe  every 
morning  (there  is  a  gentleman  present,  who  was  my  secretary,  who 
could  testify  to  that,  if  it  was  necessary),  and  I  would  go  up  the  San 
Francisco  and  then  over  these  hills  and  spend  more  or  less  time  upon 
them  to  develop  them.  The  statement  of  the  board  has  been  made  here 
upon  the  authority  of  a  man  by  the  name  of  F.  P.  Davis.  Mr.  F.  P. 
Davis  went  to  ISicaragua  for  the  first  time  in  the  latter  part  of  1887  or 
early  in  1888.  Up  to  that  time  he  had  never  seen  the  country.  When 
he  arrived  at  Nicaragua,  he  Avas  ordered  to  locate  a  portion  of  the  divide 
line  which  has  since  been  abandcmed,  and  he  did  not  know  or  see  any- 
thing of  these  hills  except  what  he  heard  from  others. 

During  this  time  when  this  report  was  made  that  the  hills  could  not 
be  found  so  as  to  connect  them  and  obtain  the  line  of  embankments 
which  I  had  proposed,  Mr.  Peary,  of  Greenland  fame,  of  whom  you  very 
well  know,  was  my  assistant,  and  he  withdrew  the  engineers  from  the 
location  of  what  is  now  called  the  upper  line  and  put  them  to  work  on 
the  location  of  the  lower  route  on  the  river  bank,  and  Mr.  Davis  was 
transferred  from  his  work  on  the  divide  to  the  location  of  the  line 
between  the  Sara])i(iui  Iliv^er  and  the  San  ,Tuanil]o,and  he  was  engaged 
there  for  some  time,  and  on  the  comi)letion  of  this  service  he  was  dis- 
charged, work  was  suspended  in  Nicaragua,  and  he  returned  to  the 
United  States.     In  the  meantime  this  chain  of  hills  to  which  I  have 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  307 

refened,  and  wliix-h  it  has  been  stated  to  this  committee  I  never  saw,  liad 
been  thoroughly  examined  by  three  parties  of  engineers.  The  chain  of 
canal  embankment  was  laid  down  practically  as  it  is  to-day,  with  some 
slight  modifications  nmde  after  more  complete  investigations  with  the 
cross  section  of  every  hill  and  every  valley,  and  it  is  practically  the 
same  as  it  was  located  in  1888  when  I  was  there,  and  any  engineer  cau 
see  that.  That  is  all  I  think  that  is  necessary  for  me  to  say  in  connec- 
tion with  that  matter. 

Now,  there  are  a  great  many  questions  which  have  been  raised  here 
affecting  more  or  less  my  ability  as  an  engineer,  and  even  my  veracity, 
and  I  cau  not  refer  to  them  now,  because  I  have  not  seen  the  testimony, 
and  part  of  my  information  of  the  testimony  is  hearsay ;  but  I  sni)pose  the 
nuMubers  of  the  committee,  who  are  thoroughly  familiar  with  the  sub- 
ject, will  be  good  enough  to  ask  questions  on  any  points  which  they  may 
think  css(.'ntial,  and  1  will  be  glad  to  re|)ly  to  the  best  of  my  ability. 
Later  on,  when  this  voluminous  testimony  is  printed,  if  I  find  in  it  any- 
thing essential  that  really  needs  consideration  or  reply,  1  will  take 
pains  to  do  so.  In  the  meantime  I  refer  the  committee  to  my  original 
statement,  which  has  been  printed  in  that  testimony,  and  1  will  be  will- 
ing to  stand  by  it.  I  have  not  a  word  to  add  or  a  word  to  take  back. 
Mr.  Chairman,  I  really  do  not  know  whether  I  should  proceed  on  other 
matters,  which  I  do  not  regard  as  very  essential.  Perhaps  the  members 
of  the  committee  may  want  to  ask  some  questions,  and  I  will  be  glad 
to  reply  to  them. 

The  Chairman.  IMr.  Menocal,  I  would  like  to  ask  you  a  question. 
You  sent  to  me  a  copy  of  the  testimony  delivered  here  at  a  hearing,  with 
certain  amendments  or  corrections? 

Mr.  Menocal.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Be  seated,  sir. 

Mr.  INIenocal.  Thank  you. 

The  GnAiR3iAN.  Those  corrections  are  made  with  a  pen  and  ink, 
except  one! 

Mr.  Menocal.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  On  page  57  where  you  strike  out  the  figure  3  and 
insert  the  figure  2  in  i^encil — when  did  you  make  that  last  correction? 
It  is  in  answer  to  a  question  by  Mr.  Bennett:  "At  what  do  you  esti- 
mate the  cost  of  the  Ochoa  D'am?" 

Mr.  Menocal.  Well,  sir,  I  have  not  had  that  document  in  my  hand 
since.  I  will  speak  to  the  committee  for  a  moment,  and  iierhaps  my 
exi)lanation 

The  Chairman.  I  call  your  attention  to  it,  and  you  see  this  correction 
is  in  pencil  and  all  the  others  are  in  ink. 

The  Clerk.  The  clerk  will  say  that  a  gentleman  called  and  asked 
for  that  copy  and  said 

Mr.  Menocal.  What  gentleman? 

The  Clerk.  And  said  that  Mr.  Menocal  authorized  him  to  make  the 
correction.     I  do  not  see  him  here  now. 

Mr.  Menocal.  I  have  not  made  that  correction,  but  I  will  explain 
that.     It  is  immaterial  and  I  will  give  my  reasons  for  saying  it  is  so. 

The  Chairman.  AVho  made  that  correction?  What  authority  had 
that  gentleman  to  make  a  correction  in  the  stenographic  records  of  this 
committee? 

Mr.  Kern  (the  gentleman  referred  to).  When  Mr.  Menocal  explains 
to  you 

The  Chairman.  I  want  to  know  from  you  what  authority  you  had  to 
tamper  with  the  stenograx)hic  records  of  this  committee? 


308  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

Mr.  Kern.  Well,  Mr.  CLainnaii,  I  did  not  consider  I  was  tampering 
with  tlic  records,  and  I  did  not  do  it  without  speaking  to  the  clerk  of 
the  committee.  1  simply  in  conversation  mentioned  the  matter  and  I 
understood  Mr.  ]Meiu)cal  said  that  he 

Tlie  Chairman.  Who  authorized  you,  sir,  to  make  that  change? 

My.  Kern.  1  think  ^Ir.  Menocal's  statement  will  clear  that  up. 

The  Chairman.  I  am  asking  you  the  question,  sir? 

INIr.  Kern.  Mr.  Menocal;  I  spoke  to  him  about  it. 

The  Chairman.  How  did  it  interest  you,  if  you  please? 

IVIr.  DooLiTTLE.  There  is  this  to  be  said  about  it. 

The  Chairman.  I  want  that  gentleman  to  make  an  exj)lanatioii.  I 
am  the  custodian  of  this  ])aper. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  I  am  not  seeking  to  make  any  explanation.  I  want 
to  say  this,  however,  that  this  gentleman,  as  Mr.  MeiH:)cal  has  stated, 
was  with  him  in  ISficarngua  and  was  here  at  the  time  the  written  state- 
ment was  submitted  to  this  committee,  and  iS  a  gentleman  I  have 
known  right  well  since  I  have  been  here,  and  so  far  as  I  am  concerned 
and  from  my  knowledge  of  him,  I  feel  satisfied  in  whatever  he  did  he 
8U])posed  he  Avas  following  a  proper  course. 

The  Chairman.  Will  you  not  let  him  say  what  he  did  first,  instead 
of  making  apologies  and  explanations? 

]\Ir.  DooLiTTLE.  I  am  not  desiring  to  do  that.  The  only  thing  I  am 
desirous  to  do  is  to  rather  relieve  what  under  the  circumstances  would 
be  a  very  en)barrassing  situation,  which  he  says  Mr.  Menocal's  state- 
ment will  clear  up,  and  that  is  all  I  have  to  suggest.  Of  course  I  do 
not  want  to 

The  Chairman.  I  think  I  understand  something  about  the  situation 
myself.  The  matter  becomes  important,  as  the  committee  will  remem- 
ber, because  a  criticism  was  made  by  one  of  the  gentlemen  of  the  Com- 
mission referring  to  that  change  in  the  estimate,  and  now,  as  I  have 
said,  1  wanted  to  know  who  had  done  it. 

JMr.  Kern.  I  would  like  to  say  this,  if  you  will  permit  me,  Mr.  Chair- 
man, that  the  attention  of  the  clerk  was  called  to  the  fact  that  there 
was  a  change  made,  and  it  was  not  made  in  a  surreptitious  way.  It  was 
simply  nnide  with  his  knowledge 

The  Chairman.  You  did  not  call  my  attention  to  it? 

jMr.  Kern.  I  thought  it  would  be  called-to  your  attention.  I  thought 
it  was  well  known  it  would  be  called  to  your  attention  by  the  clerk  of 
the  committee. 

The  Clerk.  I  supposed  that  Mr.  Menocal  had  authorized  him  to 
make  it. 

Mr.  Menocal.  I  conld  not  say  I  authorized  it.  When  I  arrived  here 
two  or  three  days  ago,  I  met  Mr.  Kern,  and  he  spoke  of  numerous  errors 
contained  in  the  printed  testimony.  I  told  him  there  were  a  great  many 
errors. 

The  Chairman.  What  do  you  mean  by  errors? 

Mr.  Menocal.  I  mean 

The  Chairman.  Do  you  mean  grammatical  errors? 

Mr.  Menocal.  Yes;  and  in  figures,  quantities,  the  draft  of  a  ship 
being  referred  to  as  40  feet,  reducing  the  sharpest  curvature  of  the  river 
to  3  feet,  which  are  absurd  errors,  as  anybody  can  see.  There  are  other 
errors. 

The  Chairman.  But  you  had  read  this  subsequent  to  its  publication 
and  you  had  not  made  tliat  correction. 

Mr.  Menocal.  No,  sir;  I  am  going  to  come  to  that  and  tell  you  how 
it  was  made.    I  arrived  here  and  I  met  Mr.  Kern  and  he  told  me  he  had 


NICAEAGUA    CANAL.  309 

seen  numerous  errors  in  the  printed  testimony,  and  I  said  I  had  cor- 
rected one  of  the  printed  copies  in  great  haste  and  sent  it  to  the  chair- 
man of  the  committee,  correcting  only  those  things  which  anybody 
could  see  were  material  errors,  and  I  saw  one  in  which  the  question 
being  asked  as  to  what  would  be  the  probable  cost  of  the  Ochoa  Dam 
and  I  had  stated  $3,000,000.  I  did  not  attach  much  importance  to  it, 
as  I  was  in  great  haste,  and  I  sent  it  to  you  with  a  letter  asking  to  have 
those  errors  corrected.  I  might  have  left  in  the  3  foot  curvature  of  the 
river,  but  anybody  could  see  it  was  a  mistake.  It  is  an  error,  misprint, 
or  something.  ISTobody  would  take  advantage  of  that,  but  when  I  was 
asked  what  would  be  the  cost  of  the  Ochoa  Uam,  I  had  no  notes  at 
hand,  and,  ill  as  I  was,  I  repeated  from  memory  what  I  thought  at  the 
time  was  more  or  less  so. 

I  had  not  seen  these  documents  for  a  long  time,  except  for  a  few  days, 
perhaps  a  week  or  so,  after  I  returned  from  Nicaragua,  and  I  had  not 
even  looked  at  the  estimates.  I  had  other  matters  to  attend  to,  and 
have  not  i)aid  much  attention  to  the  Mcaragua  Canal  for  some  time,  and 
I  said  that  the  section  from  Ochoa  to  Orreytown  will  cost  so  much,  etc., 
speaking  from  memory,  and  when  Iwas  asked  what  theOchoa  Dam  would 
cost,  I  may  have  said  inside  of  $3,000,000,  but  I  believe,  however,  I  said 
$2,000,000,  as  I  could  not  remember  the  amount.  I  knew  it  was  in  the 
vicinity  of  a  million— $1 ,200,000  or  $1,900,000,  or  something  of  that  kind— 
and  in  order  not  to  estimate  too  low,  so  as  not  to  make  it  appear  that  I 
desired  to  magnify  the  great  benefits  to  be  derived  from  the  construction 
of  the  canal  by  the  method  I  had  proposed,  I  think  I  put  the  round  fig- 
ures at  $2,000,000,  which  is  little  enough,  and  when  I  met  Mr.  Kern  here 
I  said  that  there  was  an  error  I  had  overlooked  when  I  corrected  the 
printed  testimony. 

I  did  not  correct  that  error,  for  the  reason  it  was  immaterial.  The 
board  had  just  published  the  last  estimate  I  made,  which  shows  my 
estimate  of  that  dam  to  be  less  than  a  million  dollars,  and  consequently 
there  was  no  reason  why  I  should  come  here  before  the  committee  and 
say  it  was  $3,000,000  when  the  committee  or  anybody  could  verify  it. 
It  could  not  be  expected  that  I  shonld  be  absolutely  exact,  as  they 
understood  I  was  talking  from  memory,  hastily,  and  in  ill  health.  I 
met  Mr.  Kern,  and  told  him  I  had  not  corre(;ted  it,  and  that  advan- 
tage had  been  taken  of  that  error;  and  I  think  Mr.  Kern  said  there 
was  time  yet  to  correct  it.  Perhaps  I  told  him  I  should  be  very  glad  if 
he  did  so.  I  do  not  remember  the  conversation,  but  that  is  the  way  it 
came  about.  I  have  not  had  the  pai)er  in  my  hands,  and  have  not  read 
the  correction  myself. 

Now,  with  the  permission  of  the  committee,  I  will  refer  to  another 
matter  which  has  been  brought  before  you  here.  It  has  been  stated 
that  there  is  an  error  of  a  foot  in  the  level  of  the  canal  from  Greytown 
to  Ochoa,  and  that  one  of  my  assistants  by  the  name  of  Bennett  was 
engaged  in  correcting  those  levels  when  the  work  was  suspended  in 
Nicaragua.  Such  a  statement  is  incorrect,  and  there  is  no  foundation 
for  it.  jMr.  Bennett's  last  year's  work  in  Nicaragua  was  to  make  new 
cross  sections  of  the  sites  of  all  dams  and  embankments,  and  when 
that  work  was  completed,  he  was  discharged  and  left  for  the  United 
States.  I  knew  that  was  a  fact  from  memory,  but,  to  be  sure,  I  tele- 
graphed him  and  aske<l  what  had  been  his  last  work  in  Nicaragua,  and 
he  has  replied  saying  it  was,  just  as  I  remembered,  the  relocation  of 
the  sites  of  dams  and  lines  of  embankments. 

If  there  is  an  error  in  the  levels  of  the  canal  in  Nicaragua,  I  know 
absolutely  nothing  about  it,  and  whoever  made  the  statement  must  have 


310  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

done  so  for  a  purpose;  and  if  the  statement  lias  been  made  by  tliis  engi- 
neer, Mr.  Davis,  who  has  been  mentioned  in  this  investigation,  lie  vio- 
lated the  trust  I  had  placed  in  him,  because  he  never  reported  it  to  me, 
and  he  was  responsible  for  the  correctness  of  all  surveys  and  all  levels 
made  there  for  the  last  two  and  one-half  years,  when  he  was  my  first 
assistant;  and  as  to  Mr.  Bennett  being  connected  with  the  checking  of 
these  levels,  the  statement  is  incorrect  and  has  no  foundation  at  all. 

Many  questions  have  been  raised  here  about  engineering  points  too 
numerous  for  me  to  remember  now.  I  will  at  the  proper  time  bring 
them  up  if  I  have  an  opportunity,  but  as  I  have  said  before,  I  am  per- 
fectly willing  to  stand  by  the  written  statement  I  have  submitted  to 
the  committee.     I  have  not  one  word  to  take  back  or  to  add  to  it. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  That  is,  not  your  verbal  statement  to  the  committee 
but  the  manuscript  statement? 

Mr.  Menocal.  The  manuscript  statement  which  I  have  submitted. 
There  seems  to  be  a  misunderstanding  in  one  or  two  points  which  I 
would  like  to  bring  before  the  committee.  It  has  been  stated  that  tlio 
proposition  of  keeping  the  lake  at  110  feet  above  sea  level  with  a 
fluctuation  of  a  foot  and  a  half  above  or  below  that  level  as  I  have 
stated  in  the  written  statement  is  something  novel.  Well,  Mr.  Chair- 
man, I  will  leave  that  question  for  engineers  to  decide.  We  are  not 
discussing  here  all  the  elements  of  the  problem,  but  I  will  say  this, 
that  I  do  not  beheve  that  there  is  an  engineer  in  the  world  who  believes 
for  a  moment  that  when  I  said  the  level  of  Lake  Nicaragua  was  to  be 
maintained  at  110  feet  that  I  meant  that  this  level  should  be  fixed  and 
invariable. 

Mr.  Chairman,  you  can  not  control  it.  It  is  a  large  lake  in  a  country 
where  there  is  a  tremendous  rainfall.  You  can  not  take  the  water  out 
of  the  lake,  or  draw  it  out  as  fast  as  it  iic(;umulates  by  the  rains  and 
discharge  of  the  rivers  flowing  into  it.  It  is  bound  to  rise  in  the  rainy 
season  until  it  attains  the  reciuired  hydraulic  head  to  increase  tlie  fiow 
sufficiently  to  carry  ofl'  the  surplus  Avater,  and  it  has  to  fall  in  the  dry 
season  because  there  is  little  or  no  water  flowing  into  the  lake  while 
you  are  drawing  from  it  for  the  o])erations  of  the  canal  and  to  provide 
for  evaporation,  etc.  This  immense  lake  is  not  a  tub  with  a  faucet 
attached  to  it  by  which  you  can  control  it  at  will  so  that  it  does  not  fill 
up,  or  that  you  can  fill  up  and  keep  at  the  desired  level.  It  is  impos- 
sible to  do  so.  During  the  rainy  season  the  water  accumulates  in  the 
lake  and  gradually  runs  ofl'  by  reason  of  the  increased  head,  and  in 
the  dry  season,  when  little  or  no  water  flows  into  it,  the  level  neces- 
sarily falls.  I  did  not  go  into  these  small  particulars  in  my  report 
because  I  did  not  regard  it  as  necessary. 

The  Chairman.  Mr.  Menocal,  right  there— is  it  not  essential  to  the 
completeness  of  your  enterprise  that  you  should  maintain  it  at  110  feet 
as  a  minimum'? 

Mr.  Menocajl.  Not  necessarily.  I  could  change  my  enterprise  and 
make  it  lOG  feet,  or  make  it  108  ieet,  or  IIL'  feet;  that  is  entirely  imma- 
terial. If  it  was  not  because  of  Hooding  valuable  lands  in  Nicaragua 
I  would  make  that  lake  high  enough  so  that  there  would  be  no  necessity 
of  dredging  on  the  river  San  Juan,  and  it  is  a  question  yet  as  to 
whether  it  would  not  be  more  economical  to  buy  such  private  lands  as 
may  be  flooded  by  raising  the  lake  4  or  5  feet  more  than  to  pay 
for  the  necessary  excavation  in  the  river.  Mr.  Chairman,  you  can 
adopt  any  level  you  choose,  provided  that  the  dei)th  of  your  channel  in 
the  river  and  lake  is  sulliciently  deep,  so  that  when  the  lake  falls  to 
what  you  regard  to  be  the  minimum  level  there  will  yet  be  depth  of 


KlCARAGitJA    CANAL.  311 

water  enougii  in  the  chauuel  to  float  such  ships  as  you  propose  to  carry 
through  the  canal. 

The  Chairman.  My  query  was  based  upon  the  supposition  that  you 
expected  to  have  your  28  or  30  feet,  or  whatever  it  is,  through  the  river 
and  through  the  channel,  which  you  dredge  in  the  lake  on  the  supposi- 
tion that  you  maintain  it  at  110  feet'f 

Mr.  Menocal.  That  is  treated 

The  Chairman.  Suppose  that  that  is  your  plan,  then  will  it  not  be 
necessary  for  you  to  maintain  the  level  at  110  feef? 

Mr.  Menocal.  No,  sir;  that  is  all  treated  in  that  inlnted  testimony 
you  have  before  you;  that  question  is  gone  over  fully.  If  the  channel 
we  have  ])roposed  in  the  river  is  temporarily  28  feet,  and  the  lake  can 
be  controlled  within  2  feet,  which  I  am  coniident  can  be  done,  it  may 
be  allowed  to  rise  to  111  feet  and  to  fall  to  109  feet;  or  if  the  fluctua- 
tion is  a-s  nuich  as  3  feet,  the  maximum  and  minimum  levels  would  be 
111^  to  108.^.  What  would  be  the  result"?  If  Ave  have  a  channel  at  the 
start  of  28  feet  depth  and  the  lake  falls  to  the  minimum  level,  we  will 
still  have  2Gi  feet  in  the  river.  When  it  rises  we  will  have  more  than 
is  needed,  and  when  it  falls  to  the  minimum  we  have  still  26|  feet  of 
water — -just  the  same,  or  nearly  as  much,  as  any  canal  in  the  world 
to-day — and  I  contend  that  the  fluctuation  is  inevitable;  it  is  a  neces- 
sary condition,  and  you  can  not  build  a  canal  there  without  it. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  You  speak  of  26h  feet  as  being  as  deep  as  any  other 
canal.     Has  not  the  Suez  been  recently  dredged  and  deepened 

Mr.  Menocal.  l^Tot  to  my  knowledge,  but  it  may  be.  The  Manchester 
Canal  and  the  Kiel  Canal,  which  are  the  latest  that  have  been  designed 
and  built,  so  far  as  I  know,  have  that  depth.  I  was  upon  the  Manches- 
ter Canal  during  its  construction,  visiting  it  frequently  during  the  last 
two  years,  in  close  relations  with  the  engineers  and  contractors,  and 
spent  days  over  it,  and  I  have  a  table  here  showing  the  depth  of  the 
different  canals  of  tlie  world.     Would  you  like  to  see  it? 

Mr.  Doolittle.  If  you  please.     What  do  you  read  from? 

Mr.  Menocal.  I  am  reading  from  a  paper  that  I  prepared  on  the 
Nicaragua  Canal  in  1893,  and  these  figures  are  from  official  documents. 
Now,  I  will  give  you  the  depths  of  the  various  canals.  The  original 
dimenions  of  the  Suez  Canal  was  26.2  feet  in  depth,  and  the  larger 
dimensions  which  are  now  being  carried  out  will  be  only  to  27.9  feet. 
The  Manchester  Canal  is  20  feet  in  depth.  The  Amsterdam  Canal  is  23 
feet,  the  Corinth  Canal  is  28  feet,  the  canal  proposed  at  Panama  is  27.8 
feet,  and  the  Kiel  Canal  is  28  feet  in  depth. 

Mr.  Bennett.  Will  the  Kiel  Canal  admit  a  vessel  drawing  28  feet  of 
water  ? 

Mr.  Menocal.  No,  sir.  There  are  few  vessels  in  the  world  drawing 
28  feet.    There  are  few  battle  ships  drawing  much  over  25  feet. 

Mr.  Bennett.  How  much  do  battle  shijis  draw? 

Mr,  Menocal.  I  should  say  25  feet,  the  largest.  The  Indiana,  now 
in  New  York,  draws  25.3. 

Mr.  Patterson.  One  question  in  that  connection.  Are  your  locks 
so  i)lanned  as  to  make  the  canal  navigable  for  battle  ships? 

Mr.  Menocal.  These  locks  were  originally  designed  at  a  time  when 
battle  ships  had  not  been  built  or  even  designed  as  large  as  they 
are  now,  but  they  were  made  wide  enougli  to  accommodate  the  com- 
merce of  the  world;  they  were  made  70  feet  wide.  Battle  ships  have 
been  built  since  with  a  larger  beam,  and  in  order  to  pass  them  through 
the  canal  the  locks  would  have  to  be  increased  in  width  about  10  feet. 
That  is,  however,  a  small  matter,  as  it  only  requires  a  little  more  width 


312  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

of  foundations  and  larger  gates.  That  is  all.  The  question  as  to 
whether  the  locks  should  be  built  70  feet  wide  or  80  feet  wide  has  been  \ 
considered  by  the  company,  and  I  am  free  to  say  that  the  company 
has  decided  that  if  the  canal  is  built  under  its  control  the  width  of  the 
locks  shall  be  80  feet.  Is  there  anything  else  the  committee  would  like 
to  ask"?  ! 

Mr.  Joy.  What  is  the  beam  of  the  largest  battle  ship  now?  ' 

Mr.  Menocal.  If  I  am  not  mistaken,  it  is  73  feet.  Is  not  that  so, 
Mr.  Endicott? 

Mr.  Endicott.  It  is  72.3. 

Mr.  Menocal.  I  knew  it  was  in  the  neighborhood  of  73  feet.  Of 
course,  there  was  no  necessity  when  the  locks  were  designed  to  have 
them  larger  than  70  feet,  and  if  the  canal  is  to  be  built  for  commer- 
cial purposes  only  even  now  no  company  will  undertake  to  spend 
several  millions  of  dollars  to  make  a  canal  large  enough  to  accommo- 
date a  few  ships  which  may  never  pass  through  the  canal.  In  the 
meantime,  the  company  would  lose  the  interest  on  the  money  invested 
and  the  amount  of  tolls  paid  by  such  ships  i)assing  through  the  canal 
would  not  justify  the  company  in  spending  a  large  additional  sum  of 
money  necessary  to  make  the  canal  large  enough  to  i)ass  them.  This 
canal  was  designed  for  commercial  purposes  and  evidently  is  of  suffi- 
cient dimensions  to  pass  all  the  commerce  that  will  seek  it. 

Mr.  Patterson.  That  is  true,  but  at  the  same  time  if  the  Nicaragua 
Canal  was  constructed  it  would  be  a  very  essential  part  of  our  coast 
defense. 

Mr.  Menocal.  No  doubt,  sir.  I  say  when  w^e  were  designing  this 
canal  these  battle  ships  had  not  been  built.  It  was  designed  large 
enough  to  take  in  all  the  war  ships  that  had  been  built  up  to  that  time. 
Since  then  these  new  ships  have  come  into  existence,  but,  of  course,  I 
would  be  very  glad  to  see  the  width  of  the  locks  increased  so  as  to 
enable  them  to  pass  through  it. 

Mr.  DooLTTTLE.  And  if  it  were  built  as  a  Government  enterprise 

Mr.  Menocal.  If  it  were  built  as  a  Government  enter])rise  of  course 
the  Government  could  afford  to  spend  several  millions  of  dollars  espe- 
cially for  tliat  i^urpose,  because  I  have  such  opinion  of  the  importance 
of  this  canal  to  the  Government  that  I  think  the  Government  would  be 
justified  in  building  it  if  it  was  only  as  a  military  canal,  independent  of 
its  great  importance  to  the  commerce  of  the  United  States. 

Mr.  Patterson.  I  was  very  much  Impressed  with  Colonel  Ludlow's 
statement  in  regard  to  the  bottom  of  the  San  Juan  lliver  at  Ochoa. 
Now,  have  you  made  use  fully  of  soundings  and  borings  there? 

Mr.  JMenocal.  I  refer  you  again  to  that  written  statement.  This 
matter  of  the  plans  of  the  company  has  been  somewhat  misunderstood, 
due  probalJy  to  the  manner  in  which  the  subject  has  come  before  the 
committee.  The  company  was  organized  and  engineers  were  sent  to 
Nicaragua  Avith  instructions  to  make  the  final  location  of  this  canal  so 
as  to  complete  the  plans  and  file  them  with  the  Government  of  Nicaragua 
within  eighteen  months — I  think  that  is  the  length  of  time — after  the 
date  of  the  concession.  The  location  was  made  with  all  dispatch,  six 
or  seven  parties  of  engineers  being  distributed  along  the  whole  line. 
Of  course  borings  could  not  be  taken  until  the  line  w;is  located.  There 
were  certain  sections  of  the  route  which  we  knew  could  not  be  changed 
very  much  after  the  i)reliminary  surveys  Avere  made,  and  as  soon  as  the 
topographic  condition  was  develoi)ed  boring  parties  followixl  the  engi- 
neers; but  in  other  sections  of  the  country  borings  were  not  made,  and 
could  not  be  made,  until  the  final  location  was  completed. 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  313 

Then,  in  eighteen  months  or  less,  these  plans  were  made  from  the  data 
obtained  by  the  original  surveys  and  the  plans  completed  sufficiently  in 
detail  to  be  submitted  to  the  Government  of  Nicaragua  for  its  approval, 
and  they  were  approved ;  but  they  were  deficient  in  a  great  many  respects. 
No  borings  had  yet  been  taken  at  the  site  of  Ochoa  Dam,  and  no  borings 
with  the  diamond  drill  had  been  taken  at  the  deep  cuts  or  at  the  site  of 
the  Tola  Dam.  West  of  the  lake  there  were  only  a  few  borings  made 
with  an  auger,  such  as  were  able  to  be  made  in  that  short  length  of 
time,  for  the  reason,  as  1  have  stated,  that  the  line  was  not  yet  finally 
located.  AVhen  this  iirelimiiiary  examination  and  plans  were  made,  the 
estimated  cost  was  made,  based  on  surface  indications.  At  Ochoa  there 
is  a  hill  on  which  rocks  crop  out  at  the  south  abutment  of  the  proposed 
dam.  There  is  an  island  a  little  below  it,  which  in  the  dry  season  shows 
gravel  all  around  as  far  as  can  be  seen.  The  abutting  hills  are  clay; 
you  can  see  that. 

Mr.  Patterson.  That  is  on  the  north  side! 

Mr.  Menocal.  On  both  sides ;  clay  with  bowlders  x)rojecting  out  here 
and  there,  especially  so  on  the  south  side.  Well,  we  had  to  make  an 
estimate  as  near  an  approximation  as  could  be  made  with  the  informa- 
tion avaihible,  and  were  guided  by  surface  indications  and  by  a  few 
auger  borings  which  had  been  made  up  to  that  date.  The  plans  thus 
made  were  submitted  to  the  Government  of  Nicaragua  for  approval. 
Pending  the  approval  of  the  plans,  a  period  of  probably  six  months  or 
so,  the  engineers  were  retained  in  Nicaragua  making  additional  surveys 
and  borings.  Mr.  Francis  Le  Baron  was  in  charge  of  these  engineers. 
In  October,  1889,  the  company  having  obtained  the  necessary  funds  to 
commence  work  of  construction,  to  complete  the  final  surveys,  and  to 
make  the  necessary  borings,  we  purchased  diamond  drills,  organized 
another  large  corps  of  engineers,  and  returned  to  Nicaragua;  and  the 
whole  line  was  relocated  in  detail. 

The  line  of  the  eastern  divide  cut  was  shifted  from  the  line  originally 
located  by  Engineer  Davis  to  another  line,  which  1  had  found  in  1885, 
and  which  I  thought  was  the  best;  but  when  I  sent  my  assistant  there 
to  make  the  location  in  1889,  he  started  on  another  line,  which  had  also 
been  examined  by  me  in  1885.  I  had  given  orders  to  survey  both  routes, 
but  only  one  was  located  for  lack  of  time,  and,  as  I  have  stated,  that 
was  changed  later  on.  The  line  of  embankments  was  more  carefully 
located  to  better  conform  to  the  topography  of  the  country,  and  borings 
were  continued  on  the  whole  line  to  the  bottom  of  the  canal  on  both 
sides  and  at  the  Ochoa  Dam.  At  Ochoa  Dam  we  have  taken  borings 
enough  to  satisfy  us  that  the  hills  are  clay,  with  bowlders,  and  the  river 
bottom  sand  as  far  as  we  have  gone. 

The  Chairman.  May  I  ask  you  there  what  was  the  depth  of  these 
borings? 

Mr.  Menocal.  In  the  river! 

The  Chairman.  At  Ochoa  Dam;  yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Menocal.  On  the  abutting  hills  some  of  them  (1  am  speaking 
from  memory,  I  have  no  documents  here)  were  50  feet  and  some  GO 
feet  deej),  and  I  think,  if  I  am  not  in  error,  one  or  two  went  as  deep  as 
70  feet,  and  we  found  nothing  but  clay. 

The  Chairman.  And  on  the  bottom  of  the  river,  what  was  the  depth 
of  tl-e  borings  there? 

Ml.  Menocal.  From  24  to  2G  feet,  probably  28  feet,  sufficiently  to 
satisfy  me  that  rock  did  not  lie  at  a  depth  that  would  make  the  con- 
struction of  a  stone  masonry  dam  at  that  point  practicable.  Rock  may 
be  found  there  if  you  go  deei)  enough,  but  if  such  a  dam  was  built  of 


314  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

concrete  or  stone  it  would  be  extremely  expensive  aucl  very  difficult  to 
build. 

The  Chairman.  Were  these  borings  made  with  the  diamond  drill? 

Mr.  Menocal.  No,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  They  were  made  with  an  auger? 

Mr.  Menocal.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  Did  that  reach  rock? 

INIr.  Menocal.  We  did  in  places  reach  rock  which  I  think  were 
bowlders.  I  do  not  think  we  struck  a  rock  ledge  in  any  place.  Based 
ou  that  information,  I  came  to  the  conclusion  a  stone  dam  there  was  not 
practicable. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Masonry,  you  mean? 

Mr.  Menocal.  A  masonry  dam. 

Mr.  Patterson.  You  found  no  rock  on  the  bottom  of  the  river — it 
was  all  sand? 

Mr.  Menocal.  All  sand;  of  such  a  depth,  as  I  stated  before,  as  to 
make  the  construction  of  a  masonry  dam,  if  not  impracticable,  extremely 
expensive. 

Mr.  NooNAN.  I  understood  you  to  say  you  found  rock  there  with  the 
clay? 

Mr.  Menocal.  I  beg  your  pardon;  I  will  come  to  that  later.  The 
abutting  hills  are  clay  and  the  bed  of  the  river  is  sand. 

Mr.  XooNAN.  What  is  the  character  of  the  sand — quicksand? 

Mr.  Menocal.  No,  sir;  coarse  river  silt  and  sand,  such  as  you  find 
in  the  alluvial  section  of  the  San  Junn. 

Mr.  Patterson.  My  attention  has  been  called  to  this  sentence  in 
your  report  of  1893:  "At  the  site  of  the  Ochoa  Dam,  gravel,  clay,  and 
rock,  in  the  order  named,  are  shown  by  the  borings." 

Mr.  Menocal.  Is  that  the  report  of  1803? 

Mr.  Patterson.  Yes,  sir;  1893, 

Mr.  Doolittle.  Was  that  the  Chicago  report? 

Mr.  Menocal.  I  would  like  to  see  what  paper  it  is  and  on  what  page. 
Where  is  that? 

Mr.  Patterson.  It  is  right  there;  I  will  show  it  to  you  [pointing 
out  on  page  of  pamphlet]. 

Mr.  Menocal.  Yes,  sir;  I  see  the  statement.  I  will  explain  that 
now.  When  the  original  report  and  i)lans  were  made,  as  I  stated  to 
the  committee  a  moment  ago,  we  were  guid(!d  by  surface  indications 
only.  We  saw  there  that  the  hills  were  clay  with  indications  of  rock 
at  some  depth,  since  rock  was  cropping  out  on  the  south  side,  and 
gravel  was  found  on  the  banks  of  the  river  at  low  water,  and  the  report 
was  framed  to  conform  to  those  conditions.  In  1890,  after  we  made 
the  borings,  the  estimates  were  corrected  all  along  the  line,  so  as  to 
adjust  the  amount  of  work  both  in  quantity  and  quality  to  the  results 
obtained  by  the  borings,  and  those  quantities  stand  to-day.  When 
these  changes  were  made,  the  estimates  of  1889,  which  were  based  on 
surface  indications,  were  corrected,  and  I  stated  at  the  foot  of  it,  I 
think,  "Corrected  up  to  January  1,  1890."  I  see  now  that  when  I  pre- 
pared this  paper  I  must  have  copied  that  sentence  from  the  original 
report  of  1889,  or  for  some  reason  the  statement  was  ])robably  trans- 
ferred from  the  old  document;  but,  INIr.  Patterson,  i)erm it  me  to  ask, 
are  we  to  pick  flaws  heie  of  this  kind  when  we  have  presented  to  this 
board 

Mr.  Patterson.  Not  at  all. 

Mr.  Menocal,  When  tlie  results  of  the  borings  are  given  to  the 
world?    Uave  we  not  given  to  this  board  all  the  information  we  have? 


NICARAC4UA    CANAL. 


315 


Have  we  not  shown  tlie  borings  taken  in  the  bed  of  the  river,  showing 
sand  there  and  chiy  in  the  abutments!  Why  should  you  pick  flaws 
liere  from  a  paper  I  wrote  in  great  haste,  to  be  read  at  a  convention  ? 
I  admit  it  is  a  misstatement;  but  have  we  not  presented  the  board  with 
all  the  data  on  which  our  claims  are  based*? 

Mr.  Patterson.  Now,  I  want  to  say  this  to  you.  I  called  your 
attention  to  that  simply  for  the  reason  it  was  commented  on  here. 

Mr.  Menocal.  I  know,  sir,  it  has  been  brought  before  the  committee. 

Mr.  Patterson.  And  what  I  wanted  to  do  was  to  get  at  the  real 
facts. 

Mr.  Menocal.  Those  are  the  real  facts. 

Mr.  Patterson.  If  it  be  true,  as  stated  in  that  paper,  that  the  first 
thing  you  struck  at  the  bottom  of  the  San  Juau  liiver  is  sand  and  then 
clay  and  then  rock 

Mr.  Menocal.  Xo,  sir. 

Mr.  Patterson.  I  meant  to  say  that  if  that  be  the  fact  it  would  go 
a  long  way  toward  satisfying  my  judgment  upon  a  very  difficult  i)rob- 
lem,  and  I  think  the  most  difiicult  problem — now,  I  am  no  engineer — con- 
nected with  the  Miearagua  Canal,  and  if  there  is  anything  about  this 
Nicaragua  Canal  scheme  now  that  remains  undemonstrated  in  my  mind, 
in  my  humble  judgment,  it  is  the  practicability  of  constructing  the 
Ochoa  Dam  so  as  to  retain  your  summit  level.  If  rock  can  be  found 
at  the  bottom  of  the  river,  I  think  it  would  be  very  well  and  I  was  anx- 
ious to  find  out. 

Mr.  Menocal.  I  have  no  assurances 

Mr.  Stewart.  Was  there  a  dispute  about  that! 

Mr.  Patterson.  No,  sir. 

Mr.  Menocal.  Permit  me  to  complete  what  I  was  going  to  say.  I 
have  no  assurances  there  is  no  rock  at  a  certain  depth.  Pock  may  be 
found  40  or  50  feet  deep  in  the  river  bed,  and  I  have  only  gone  down 
24  or  25  feet;  but  enough  to  satisfy  me  that  for  practical  purposes  of 
construction  we  have  nothing  but  sand  there.  Now,  that  being  the 
case,  we  had  to  devise  a  method  of  construction  that  was  applicable  to 
that  particular  site  and  would  meet  those  particular  conditions.  This 
rock-filled  dam  was  then  proposed  by  me,  and  has  since  received  the 
approval,  I  think,  of  all  the  engineers  who  have  studied  the  subject,  and 
this  board  has  arrived  at  the  same  conclusion — that  it  is  practicable 
with  slight  modifications  in  the  method  of  construction,  which  are  mat- 
ters of  detail;  but  the  dam  is  admitted  to  be  practicable.  Whether 
you  are  going  to  spend  $500,000  in  strengthening  the  abutments,  or 
|lOO,000  or  $50,000  is  only  a  matter  of  detail,  and  other  changes  pro- 
loosed,  such  as  having  a  set  of  sluices  to  discharge  the  river  during 
construction,  which  I  think  will  be  a  bad  scheme,  and  is  only  a  modifi- 
cation of  construction  methods  not  affecting  the  practicability  of  the 
work.    The  dam  can  be  built.     They  state  it  can  be  built. 

We  have  been  told  here  that  when  this  board  returned  from  Nicara- 
gua it  was  all  obscure;  they  could  not  see  how  this  canal  could  be 
built;  they  were  full  of  doubts,  and  did  not  believe  it  could  be 
done.  However,  after  they  met  in  New  York  and  looked  over  the  date 
furnished  by  the  company,  and  consulted  and  talked  the  matter  over, 
they  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  canal  is  feasible  and  absolutely 
practicable,  as  has  been  stated  before  this  committee.  By  what  means 
did  they  arrive  at  these  conclusions?  Not  from  the  investigations  they 
made  in  Nicaragua,  since  they  left  the  country  with  the  opinion  that 
the  canal  was  imi^racticable.  Why,  it  was  from  information  we  gave 
them. 


31g  NICARAGUA    CANAL, 

]\Ir.  Corliss.  I  would  like  to  ask  you,  under  the  concession  liow 
many  more  years  were  allowed  for  the  eonstruction  and  completion  of 
the  canal  ? 

Mr.  Menocal.  The  concession  as  it  stands  now  will  expire  by  limita- 
tion in  October,  1899. 

Mr.  CoRLTSS.  Is  there  any  provision  for  extension"^ 

Mr.  Menocal.  There  is  a  provision  for  extension;  that  is,  if  on 
account  of  insurmountable  difUcultios,  of  calamities  such  as  earth- 
quakes and  conditions  of  that  kind,  the  company  should  not  complete 
the  construction  of  the  canal  in  ten  years,  the  Government  of  Nicaragua 
binds  itself  to  give  an  extension  of  time,  which  is  not  named  in  length. 
That  provision  you  will  find  in  the  concession. 

Mr.  Joy.  Let  me  see  if  I  understand  you.  The  concession,  as  it  now 
exists,  is  for  the  completion  of  the  canal  by  1899'? 

Mr.  Menocal.  The  company  had  ten  years  to  build  the  canal  from 
the  time  the  work  was  inaugurated.  The  work  was  commenced  Octo- 
ber, 1889,  and  consequently  the  time  at  which  the  concession  will  ex]>ire 
by  limitation  is  in  October,  1899;  but  there  is  a  provision  in  the  conces- 
sion, as  I  have  stated,  by  which  the  (iovernment  of  Nicaragua  binds 
itself  to  give  an  extension  of  time  in  case  of  unforeseen  circumstances, 
calamities,  etc.,  which  the  company  could  not  avoid.  Now  the  question 
to  be  settled  is  whether  the  financml  troubles  the  world  is  going  throngh 
and  other  diriicultiesthat  haveoccurred  since  the  work  was  commenced 
are  not  sufficient  to  justify  the  company  in  asking  for  this  extension 
and  the  (xovernment  of  Nicaragua  in  granting  it, 

Mr.  Corliss.  One  other  question:  In  your  judgment,  can  the  canal 
be  conqdeted  within  that  period f 

Mr.  INIengcal.  No,  sir;  not  by  1899.  1  thiidc  the  canal  can  be  built 
in  between  iive  ami  six  years,  if  the  money  is  avaihil)le  as  tast  as  it  is 
needed,  and  the  work  properly  conducted.  1  think  it  can  be  com- 
pleted inside  of  that  time. 

The  Chairman.  Under  the  concession,  what  was  the  company  to  do 
in  the  way  of  expenditures  the  first  year? 

Mr.  INIenocal,  The  conq)any  was  to  spend  $2,000,000, 

The  Chairman.  When  was  the  expiration  of  that  period? 

Mr.  Menocal,  It  was  October,  1890, 

The  CiiAiR:\rAN.  Did  yon  represent  the  conq)any  in  establishing  the 
fact  to  the  Nicaraguau  Government  that  the  expenditure  had  been 
made  ? 

Mr.  JMenocal.  Yes,  sir;  I  did,  in  this  respect,  I  was  representing  the 
company  in  Nicaragua,  and  the  Government  of  Nicaragua  appointed  two 
or  three  commissioners — 1  think  three — who  canu^  to  Greytown,  where 
I  had  my  headfpiarters,  with  instructions  from  the  Government  of  Nica- 
ragua to  examine  the  cost  of  the  work  which  had  been  done  by  the 
company  and  inform  the  Government  as  to  how  much  had  l)een  sjjcnt 
up  to  the  10th  of  October,  or  sometime  in  the  month  of  October,  on  the 
works  of  the  canal.  The  investigation  was  made,  and  1  gave  tliem  all 
the  information  I  had,  and  our  books  were  open  to  them.  They  saw 
what  we  had  done  and  what  we  were  doing,  and  they  reported  that  the 
expenditures  nj)  to  that  date — lam  s])eaking  now  from  memory — were 
about  three  millions  and  some  hniulreds  of  thonsands  of  dollars. 

The  CiiAiKMAN,  Did  you  include  in  tliat  the  i>lant  which  had  l)een 
procured  as  well  as  the  work  Avhich  had  l)een  done' 

Mr.  INIenocal.  Yes,  sir;  the  idant  which  had  been  procnnnl,  and  also 
the  cost  of  the  Navigation  Conq^any,  which  had  been  purchased  by  the 
Ni(,'aragua  Canal  Company  because  the  owner  of  the  Navigation  Com- 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  317 

paiiy  had  the  privilege  of  navigating  tlie  river  and  lake,  and  one  of  the 
provisions  of  the  concession  was  that  the  company  could  only  obtain 
this  privilege  and  have  the  right  of  navigating  the  lake  and  river  by 
some  arrangement  with  this  individual,  and  he  set  up  his  price  at 
$300,000  for  his  boats,  his  grant,  storehouses,  and  everything  else,  and 
the  company  had  at  last  to  pay  it. 

Tlie  Chaikman.  What  company  bought  that;  was  it  the  Construc- 
tion Company  or  the  Maritime  Canal  Company? 

Mr.  Menocal.  You  are  asking  me  in  regard  to  matters  to  which  I 
paid  very  little  attention. 

The  Chairman.  Well,  I  will  ask  that  in  a  different  way.  In  estab- 
lishing the  fact  that  the  expenditure  of  1 1',000,00(>  had  been  nmde,  did 
you  include  in  that  whatever  sum,  $300,000  or  $100,000,  which  was  paid 
by  the  Construction  Company? 

Mr.  IMenocal.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  That  was  an  asset  whicli  belonged  to  the  Construc- 
tion Company,  was  it  not,  and  not  to  the  Maritime  Company? 

Mr.  ]\Ienocal.  That  is  a  point  that  I  am  not  prepared  to  answer. 
My  impression  of  that  arrangement  was  this:  The  Construction  Com- 
pany paid  for  everything,  and  at  the  end  of  a  certain  time,  call  it  a 
niouth  or  say  six  months,  a  bill  was  presented  to  the  Maritime  Com- 
pany for  the  value  of  the  work  done  or  the  expenditures  made,  and  the 
Maritine  Company  would  then  pay  for  these  expenditures  by  some 
arrangement — in  securities,  bonds,  stocks,  etc.  Consequently,  from  the 
moment  the  securities  were  turned  over  to  the  Construction  Company 
the  plant  and  whatever  work  had  been  done  and  paid  for  became  the 
property  of  the  Maritime  Canal  Company.  Have  I  expressed  myself 
clearly  ? 

The  Chairman.  Yes,  sir.  Now,  do  you  understand  that  the  Mari- 
time Company  is  the  owner  of  that  franchise? 

Mr.  Menocal.  Yes^  sir. 

The  Chairman,  For  the  navigation  of  the  riverl 

Mr.  Menocal.  That  is  my  understanding. 

The  Chairman.  Did  you  not  state,  when  you  were  before  this  com- 
mittee during  the  last  Congress,  that  the  franchise  was  owned  by  the 
Construction  Company? 

Mr.  Menocal.  Well,  I  have  explained  now  that  the  Construction 
Comi^any  bought  all  the  plant  and  paid  for  and  did  all  the  work ;  but 
by  some  arrangement  which  the  Construction  Comi^any  had  with  the 
Maritime  Company,  the  Construction  Company  was  at  some  time,  which 
I  could  not  tell  you — as  I  said  before,  I  had  nothing  to  do  with  the 
financial  affairs  of  the  company  and  I  do  not  know  that  I  have  the 
right  to  say  here  what  I  am  saying — but  I  know  that  some  arrange- 
ment of  that  kind  was  made  by  which  the  Maritime  Company  paid 
the  Construction  Comi)any  the  expenditures  made  for  the  construction 
of  the  canal  everything  pertaining  to  the  canal,  and  these  payments 
were  made,  I  think,  by  securities.  Now,  what  the  i3roportion  was  I 
can  not  say, 

The  Chairman.  What  do  you  mean  by  securities;  bonds  or  stocks? 

Mr.  Menocal.  As  I  say,  I  mean  boiuls  and  stock. 

The  Chairman.  In  what  proportion  ? 

Mr.  Menocal.  That  is  just  what  I  say  I  do  not  know. 

The  Chairman.  Did  not  you  negotiate  this  transaction? 

Mr.  Menocal.  No,  sir;  I  had  absolutely  nothing  to  do  with  the  finan- 
cial arrangements  of  the  company. 

The  Chairman.  Did  not  you  negotiate  for  the  purchase  of  this  fran- 
chise ? 


318  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

Mr.  Menooal.  Yes;  if  you  refer- 


Tbe  Chairman.  J)o  yon  not  know  tlie  terms  of  payment? 

Mr.  Menocal,  If  you  refer  to  the  franchise  the  company  obtained 
from  Nicaragua,  1  negotiated  tliat. 

Tlie  CriAUiMAN.  1  do  not  mean  that,  but  I  mean  the  franchise  right 
to  navigate  the  San  Juan  and  the  hike? 

Mr.  Menocal.  No,  sir;  I  liad  absolutely  nothing  to  do  with  that,  aud 
I  never  even  negotiated  for  a  barrel  of  cement  for  the  company. 

The  Chairman.  In  establishing  tlie  fact  to  the  satisfaction  of  the 
committee  appointed  by  the  Government  of  Nicaragua  that  $2,000,000 
had  been  exi)ended  by  the  company,  did  you  include  the  purchase  for 
about  $775,000  of  a  certain  dredging  plant,  etc.,  which  was  bought 
at  Colon? 

Mr.  Menocal.  I  remember  distinctly  that  a  portion  of  that  dredg- 
ing plant  was  included;  whether  it  was  all  or  only  part  of  it  1  can  not 
say,  as  I  do  not  remember.  It  is  a  long  time  ago,  but  I  think  that  a 
portion  of  that  pkmt  and  the  cost  of  its  transportation  to  Greytown 
was  a  part  of  the  expenses  which  were  included  in  making  up  that 
nniount. 

The  Chairman.  Now,  will  you  state  which  comj^auy  purchased  that 
plant? 

Mr.  Menocal.  No,  sir;  I  could  not  tell  you. 

The  Chairman.  Was  it  the  Construction  Company  or  the  Maritime 
Comi)any? 

Mr.  Menocal.  I  have  to  beg  your  pardon,  as  I  do  not  know  anything 
about  it.  There  are  others  better  informed  on  that  subject  than  I  am — 
Mr.  Miller,  who  was  then  president  of  the  company;  and  there  is  the 
secretary  of  the  company,  and  others.     I  had  nothing  to  do  with  it. 

The  Chairman.  In  establivShing  the  fiict  that  there  was  an  expendi- 
ture of  12,000,000  made  during  the  year  did  you  include  an  item  of 
$105,000,  or  about  that,  for  a  dredge  purchased  in  Glasgow? 

Mr.  Menocal.  There  may  have  been.  I  do  not  remember  the  item 
now. 

The  Chairman.  Were  you  a  party  to  the  report  that  was  made  to 
the  Nicaraguan  Government  as  to  these  expenditures? 

Mr.  Menocal.  No,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  You  did  not  sign  the  report? 

Mr.  Menocal.  No,  sir.  I  have  no  copy  of  the  report  with  me,  and 
I  only  renu'mber  the  circumstance  that  these  commissioners  came  there 
and  the  books  were  open  to  them. 

The  Chairman.  Do  you  remember  the  names  of  those  commissioners? 

Mr.  Menocal.  I  remember  two  of  them.  One  of  them  was  Mr.  Jose 
Antonio  llomau  and  the  other  was  Maximilian  Sonnerstern. 

The  Chairman.  Have  you  ever  seen  the  report  nmde  by  either  one 
of  those  gentlemen  to  the  Nicaraguan  Government? 

Mr.  Menocal.  No,  sir;  I  have  not. 

The  CiiAiR^MAN.  So  that  no  report  made  by  them  was  in  any  way 
verified  by  your  signature? 

Mr.  Menocal.  No,  sir;  I  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  report,  I  only 
gave  the  items,  and  the  books  were  open  to  them  and  tliey  got  the  data 
from  them. 

The  Chairman.  If  there  was  an  item  of  about  $105,000  for  a  dredge 
purchased  in  Glasgow  included  in  those  amounts,  can  you  state  whether 
or  not  that  dredge  was  ever  received  at  Greytown  ? 

Mr.  M]<:nocal.  I  have  an  imi)ression — ivi  fact,  I  know — the  company 
did  buy  a  dredge  in  Glasgow,  and  that  this  dredge  never  reached 
Nicaragua. 


NICAl^AGUA    CANAL.  319 

The  Chairman.  It  was  sent  to  Australia,  was  it  not? 

Mr.  Menooal.  I  do  not  know,  sir.  I  know  a  dredge  was  purchased 
in  Glasgow,  and  that  this  dredge,  the  hrst  one  built,  was  sunk  on  the 
coast  of  England,  but  whether  it  was  sunk  on  its  way  from  Glasgow  to 
Greytown,  or  to  Australia,  I  do  Jiot  know,  as  I  had  nothing  to  do  with 
it;  but  I  know  the  dredge  was  sunk  at  sea. 

The  Chairman.  Was  it  not  sunk  at  sea  off  the  English  coast  on  its 
way  to  Australia? 

Mr.  Menocal.  I  do  not  know.  I  have  no  idea.  I  know  it  was  sunk; 
I  know  that  fact;  at  least  I  have  been  told  so.  I  know  it  as  you  would 
know  from  hearing  me  tell  you.  I  know  another  one  was  ordered  or 
purchased 

The  Chairman.  Was  it  ever  received  ? 

Mr.  Menocal.  It  was  ordered,  and  I  understand  it  was  sold  after- 
wards without  having  been  sent  to  Nicaragua,  because  the  work  had 
stopped  before  tjie  dredge  was  bronght  over. 

The  Chairman.  You  are  not  able  to  say  whether  that  item  of 
expenditure  was  included  in  the  $2,000,000  of  their  alleged  expendi- 
ture made  during  the  first  year? 

Mr.  Menocal.  No,  sir;  1  could  not  make  any  statement  in  regard  to 
that. 

The  Chairman.  Do  you  remember  at  what  the  work — when  I  speak 
of  work  I  mean  excavations  in  the  canal  or  excavations  in  the  harbor — 
what  was  the  estimate  of  that  Commission? 

Mr.  Menocal.  No,  sir;  I  do  not. 

The  Chairman.  Did  you  furnish  the  Commission  with  any  amounts 
or  sums  representing  this  class  of  work  which  had  been  done! 

Mr.  Menocal.  Mr.  Cliairman,  the  Commission,  if  I  remember  cor- 
rectly, did  not  estimate  the  value  of  the  work.  They  took  the  expend- 
itures which  had  been  actually  made.  The  terms  of  the  concession 
were  that  the  Canal  Conij^any  had  to  actuall^^  expend  12,000,000  in  the 
first  year,  and  the  commission  for  Nicaragua  had  nothing  to  do  with 
the  actual  valne  of  the  woik  which  had  been  performed. 

The  Chairman.  Now,  it  was  your  mission  there,  as  a  representative 
of  the  Canal  Company,  to  show  to  those  gentlemen  what  expenditures 
had  been  made? 

]Mr.  Menocal.  Yes,  sir. 

Tlie  Chairman.  And  you  represented  the  company  in  doing  that? 

Mr.  Menocal.  I  did. 

The  Chairman.  Now,  what  amount  did  you  represent  to  them  had 
been  expended  for  this  class  of  work  of  which  I  have  spoken? 

Mr.  Menocal.  Mr.  Chairman,  I  did  not  keep  those  documents. 
What  I  did  there  was  to  open  to  these  gentlemen  the  books  which  were 
kept  in  Greytown,  and  to  give  them  certain  memoranda  which  was  sent 
from  New  York — extracts  from  the  books  in  New  York,  I  suppose. 
That  is  all  I  did  in  connection  with  it. 

The  Chairman.  When  you  represented  to  them  that  expenditures 
had  been  made  did  you  explain  to  tliem  whether  those  were  cash 
expenditures,  or  expenditures  of  securities,  bonds,  or  stocks? 

Mr.  Menocal.  I  gave  them  the  figures  which  were  given  to  me  by 
the  Canal  Company  and  just  as  they  were  received.  I  could  not  tell 
you  now. 

The  Chairman.  And  you  gave  the  figures  to  them  as  expenditures 
which  were  made  bj'  the  Maritime  Canal  Company? 

Mr.  Menocal.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  Without  reference  to  the  fact  of  wliether  they  were 
exx^enditures  made  by  the  Construction  Company! 


320  NICAKAGUA    CANAL. 

Mr.  ]\fENO0AL.  AVell,  you  are  a  little  mixed  there;  I  do  not  know  liow 
to  answer  that  question.  All  expenditures  were  made  by  the  Coustrue- 
tion  C(inii)any,  and  afterwards  paid  I'or  by  the  Maritime  Company,  but 
Avhat  the  arrangement  between  the  companies  was  I  know  nothing 
about.  AVhen  the  Commission  was  appointed  certain  information  was 
sent  through  me  to  be  laid  before  them,  and  the  books  in  Greytown 
were  open  to  them.  They  spent  several  days  in  examining-  the  books 
with  the  bookkeepers,  and  from  them  they  got  tlieir  notes.  That  is  all 
1  know  about  it.     I  was  no  ])art  of  the  Commission. 

The  Chairman.  You  were  a  member  of  both  companies  as  a  stock- 
holder? 

Mr.  Menocal.  No,  sir;  I  was  an  engineer  of  the  Construction  Com- 
pany. 

The  Chairman.  Of  the  Construction  Company? 

Mr.  Menocal.  Yes,  sir. 

The  Chaikman.  Were  you  not  a  stockholder  or  an  officer  in  both 
comi>anies? 

Mr.  Menocal.  I  was  a  stockliolder  to  someextent;  1  had  about  40  or 
50  shares  of  the  Maritime  Company's  stock,  which  I  have  now,  but  I 
was  not  an  official  of  the  IMaritime  Com[)any  at  all,  and  I  had  nothing 
to  do  with  the  financial  affairs  of  either  of  the  two  companies. 

The  Chairman.  Were  you  not  conversant  Avith  the  contracts  exist- 
ing between  those  two  companies? 

Mr.  ]\Ien()(_'AL.  I  never  saw  them. 

The  Chairman.  Well,  you  knew  in  general  terms  what  contracts  had 
been  made? 

Mr.  Menocal.  I  knew  contracts  had  been  made,  but  I  never  saw  them. 
My  connection  with  this  enterprise,  Mr.  Chairman,  is  entirely  profes- 
sional, and  1  have  a  small  interest  pecuniarily. 

The  Chairman.  I  am  not  pursuing  that  Hue,  however,  for  any  other 
purpose  than  to  elucidate  from  you,  if  I  can,  the  fact  that  you  knew  of 
the  character  of  the  management  between  the  two  companies. 

Mr.  Menocal.  1  never  saw  the  contract.  I  only  knew  what  I  have 
stated  to  the  committee  frankly,  that  so  far  as  I  know,  these  contracts 
involved  a  certain  arrangement  by  which  the  Construction  Company 
Avas  to  be  paid  in  what  I  call  securities,  both  bonds  and  stock;  but 
how  much,  and  in  what  proportion,  in  what  amounts,  and  at  what  time 
I  do  not  know.  I  never  investigated  it  or  bothered  myself  about  it,  as 
I  had  nothing  to  do  with  such  affairs. 

Tlie  Chairman.  Do  you  not  know  generally  that  there  was  a  contract 
by  which  the  Maritime  Company  was  to  turn  over  to  the  Construction 
Company  all  of  its  assets,  both  boiuls  and  stock? 

Mr.  ^Ienocal.  1  could  not  answer  that  question  positively;  but  I 
have  an  impression  that  it  was  not  all  the  assets.  How  nuich  it  was  I 
do  not  know.  I  never  saw  the  contract,  but  I  have  the  impression  tliat  a 
certain  aiuount  was  to  be  retained  by  the  ]Maritime  Conq)any,  but  how 
much  I  do  not  know. 

The  Chairman.  Y'ou  made  the  negotiations  between  the  Maritime 
Com[>any  and  the  States  of  Nicaragua  and  Costa  Kica? 

Mv.  .^lENOCAL.  Xo,  sir;  I  did  not.  The  ^laritime  Company  was  not 
in  existence  at  the  time.  I  made  these  negotiations  for  an  association 
which  started  among  four  or  five  friends,  who  were  interested  in  the 
canal,  and  they  raised  a  certain  sum  of  money.  I  will  tell  you  how 
nnich  it  was.  There  was  .$300,000  contributed,  each  one  putting  in 
$5,000  and  in  some  cases  the  shares  of  $5,000  were  divided  into  sub- 
shares  of  $1,000  each,  and  so  they  raised  this  amount  of  $300,000. 


NICARAGUA   CANAL.  321 

With  this  sum  of  $300,000  I  was  requested  to  go  to  Nicaragua  and  get 
a  concession  and  to  Costa  Eica  afterwards. 

The  Chairman.  Did  you  procure  the  concession  for  the  sum  of 
$300,000! 

Mr.  Menocal.  No,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  What  more  were  they  to  get? 

Mr.  Menocal.  What,  sir? 

The  Chairman.  What  in  addition  to  the  $300,000  were  you  to  give 
those  two  States  for  the  concession  ? 

Mr.  Menocal.  I  only  gave  the  Government  of  Nicaragua  $100,000. 
Later  on  I  paid  the  Government  of  Nicaragua  $50,000  for  the  right  of 
way  between  the  lake  and  the  Pacific,  which  was  provided  for  in  the 
concession.  One  of  the  conditions  of  the  concession  was  to  the  effect 
that  the  company,  when  organized,  and  after  work  was  commenced,  was 
to  pay  to  the  Government  of  Nicaragua  $50,000  for  the  right  of  way 
between  the  lake  and  the  Pacific. 

The  Chairman.  Were  those  two  sums,  $100,000  and  $50,000,  the 
total  consideration  to  be  paid  to  Nicaragua? 

Mr.  Menocal.  That  is  all  I  paid. 

The  Chairman.  Was  there  anything  reserved — were  you  to  pay 
anything  more? 

Mr.  Menocal.  No,  sir;  not  by  the  terms  of  the  concessions,  except 
a  certain  amount  of  stock. 

The  Chairman.  What  was  that? 

Mr.  Menocal.  Six  per  cent. 

The  Chairman.  Was  that  agreement  made  at  the  time  of  securing 
the  concession? 

Mr.  Menocal.  Yes,  sir;  those  were  the  conditions  of  the  concession, 
that  the  company  would  turn  over  to  the  Government  of  Nicaragua 
C  per  cent  of  its  stock  and  to  Costa  Eica  1^  per  cent,  if  I  remember 
right. 

The  Chairman.  Was  that  stock  ever  delivered? 

Mr.  Menocal.  Well,  I  have  to  say  about  that  that  I  do  not  know. 

The  Chairman.  You  have  never  delivered  it? 

Mr.  Menocal.  I  never  delivered  it  personally. 

The  Chairman.  Have  j^ou  any  knowledge  upon  the  subject  that  ena- 
bles you  to  form  an  opinion  ? 

Mr.  Menocal.  Only  an  opinion.  I  am  not  prepared  to  show  you 
that  it  was  delivered,  but  I  have  an  opinion  formed  that  the  stock  was 
sent  to  Nicaragua  to  the  agent  of  the  company  to  be  delivered  to  the 
Government  of  Nicaragua,  but  what  became  of  it,  whether  it  was 
actually  delivered,  or  where  it  is,  I  do  not  know;  but  I  have  the  imj^res- 
sion  from  conversations  that  I  heard  in  the  offices  in  New  York,  and 
also  what  the  agent  himself  told  me,  that  this  stock  had  been  sent  to 
him  to  be  delivered  to  the  Government  of  Nicaragua. 

The  Chairman.  Do  you  remember  when  that  was? 

Mr.  Menocal.  That  must  have  been,  sir,  between  1889  and  1890, 
within  those  two  years,  but  I  coald  not  tell  you  exactly  the  date.  From 
the  time  this  agent  remained  in  the  country,  I  should  suppose  it  was 
between  1889  and  1890. 

The  Chairman.  On  the  occasion  when  you  were  representing  the 
expenditures  made  by  the  company  to  these  commissioners  of  Nicara- 
gua, was  the  item  of  expenditure  for  the  navigation  of  the  river  and 
lake  included? 

Mr.  Menocal.  I  think  so. 

The  Chairman.  Do  you  remember  what  amount? 
N  c 21 


322  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

Mr.  Menooal.  No,  sir;  I  think  tliat  a  sum  of  mouey  was  included 
in  the  expenditures  for  this  i)urchase. 

The  Chairman.  What  was  the  amount  paid  there  for  that  right? 

Mr.  ]Menocal.  I  liad  nothing  to  do  with  that  negotiation  and  I  do 
not  know  that  I  have  any  right  to  say  here  how  much  it  M'as,  but  I 
believe,  for  what  my  information  is  worth,  it  was  $300,000.  I  had 
nothing  to  do  with  it. 

The  OnAiiiMAN.  Do  you  know  who  negotiated  the  contract? 

Mr.  Menocal.  The  company  in  New  York.  I  could  not  mention  the 
names  of  anybody.  I  was  not  here  at  the  time;  I  was  in  Nicaragua. 
Those  are  matters  in  which  I  never  concerned  myself. 

The  Ohaiuman.  At  the  time  you  were  procuring  this  concession  from 
Nicaragua  was  the  fact  that  there  was  a  grant  in  peri)etnity — an  exclu- 
sive grant  already  made  to  parties  to  navigate  the  river  and  lake — known 
to  you? 

Mr.  INfENOCAL.  Not  in  i)erpetuity. 

The  Chairman.  It  was  not  in  i:)erpetuity? 

Mr.  ]\lENOCAL.  No,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  For  what  period? 

Mr.  Menocal.  I  think  the  gentleman  who  had  the  grant  liad  four 
or  live  more  years  to  run,  and  when  the  company  atteui])ted  to  put 
steam  tugs  and  lighters,  etc.,  in  the  river  he  protested.  The  Govern- 
ment of  Nicaragua  sustained  him  in  his  claim  that  no  one  had  the  right 
to  navigate  the  waters  of  the  lake  or  river  but  himself  until  his  contract 
expired.  If  you  consult  the  concession,  you  will  see  there  a  stipulation 
to  the  effect  that  at  the  expiration  of  his  privilege  the  Canal  Conjpany 
would  have  the  privilege  of  navigating  all  the  waters  of  Nicaragua, 
not  only  navigation,  but  control.  The  Governments  of  Nicaragua  and 
Costa  Ilica  gave  the  compauy  the  right  to  Hood  public  lands,  dam 
streams,  divert  streams,  raise  the  lake,  to  take  possession  of  the  country, 
and  to  build  that  canal  as  they  wanted  it.  The  whole  country  is  turned 
over  to  the  company  with  the  only  provision  that  such  private  lands 
as  are  damaged  by  the  works  of  the  company  shall  be  paid  for  at  their 
actual  valuc\  That  is  the  only  restriction,  but  the  company  has  the 
right  to  go  on  and  flood  the  whole  country  if  necessary. 

Mr.  Stewart.  Have  you  any  interest  pecuniarily,  or  otherwise  than 
professional  interest,  in  the  canal  project  at  the  present  time? 

Mr.  Menocal.  I  have  some  interest  in  the  company. 

IVfr.  Stewart.  To  any  large  extent? 

]\Ir.  INlENOCAL.  No,  sir ;  very  little.  These  are  private  affairs.  I  have 
repeated  here  that  I  have  an  interest,  and  I  always  have  had.  I 
was  one  of  the  first  promoters  who  obtained  the  concession.  I  have 
faith  in  the  enterprise  as  being  a  great  work,  and  my  only  ambition  is 
to  see  it  completed.  If  I  had  a  million  dollars  to-day,  I  would  put  every 
cent  of  it  in  it. 

]VIr.  Stewart.  My  only  object  was  to  show  your  interest  was  a  very 
small  item,  and  therefore  w^ould  not  control  your  judgment. 

Mr.  IMenocal.  It  is  only  small  because  I  am  a  poor  man.  If  I  had 
more,  I  would  put  it  in  it. 

Mr.  Bennett.  That  lake  and  river  navigation  company  whose  fran- 
chise was  afterwards  assumed  by  the  Canal  Coup[)any  began  lioni  what 
point  on  the  lake  to  Avhat  point  on  the  river? 

]Mr.  Menocal.  They  had  the  right  to  navigate  all  the  waters  of  the 
San  Juan  Kiver  and  Lake  Nicaragua. 

Mr.  Bennett.  Is  the  stream  navigable  from  Fort  San  Carlos  to 
Grey  town  now? 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  323 

Mr.  Menocal.  Not  in  the  dry  season. 

Mr.  Bennett.  In  the  wet  season  is  it  navigable? 

Mr.  Menocal.  Yes,  sir;  it  is  from  six  to  eight  months  a  year,  depend- 
ent upon  the  rainfall,  by  stern  wheel  steamers,  which  generally  draw 
about  3  feet.  They  go  as  far  as  Castilio  in  the  rainy  season  without 
any  transfer,  and  at  Castilio  they  transfer  to  another  river  steamer, 
and  on  the  lake  to  another  steamer;  so  even  in  the  rainy  season,  when 
the  river  is  high,  two  transfers  are  necessary — one  at  Castilio  and 
one  at  the  lake. 

Mr.  Bennett.  Is  there  water  communicatiou  between  the  lake  and 
the  Pacific  heref 

Mr.  Menocal.  No,  sir. 

Mr.  Bennett.  That  is  not  navigable? 

Mr.  Menocal.  No,  sir. 

Mr.  Bennett.  These  streams  are  not  navigable? 

Mr.  Menocal.  No,  sir;  never  have  been. 

Mr.  Corliss.  How  large  is  that  little  body  of  water  indicated  on  the 
western  side  there? 

Mr.  Menocal.  It  contains  4,050  acres  in  area. 

Mr.  Bennett.  It  is  more  in  the  nature  of  a  swamj)? 

Mr.  Menocal.  No,  sir;  it  is  a  very  fertile,  beautiful  valley;  there  is 
no  swamp  there. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  I  want  to  ask  a  few  questions  now.  I  would  like 
to  have  the  sense  of  the  committee  about  this,  whether  they  would 
like  to  have  from  Mr.  Menocal  a  detailed  history  of  the  line  he  ran 
there,  and  take  the  whole  subject  up  in  its  order  as  to  what  he  did  do 
while  there,  in  detail,  and  a  liistory  of  these  surveys  and  examinations 
from  top  to  bottom.  If  it  is  essential,  in  the  opinion  of  the  committee, 
why  of  course  Mr.  Menocal  stands  ready  here  to  cover  that  entire 
ground,  every  foot  of  it,  from  Greytown  Harbor  to  the  lake,  and  from 
the  lake  to  Brito,  if  that  is  thought  to  be  advisable  by  the  committee. 
That  is  a  matter  which  occurred  to  me  the  other  evening  in  speaking 
to  him. 

The  Chairman.  What  good  will  it  do  ? 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  I  do  not  know  what,  I  am  sure. 

Mr.  Joy.  I  will  state  that  at  one  of  the  meetings  of  the  subcommit- 
tee at  which  you  were  not  present,  and  which  took  place  at  my  house, 
that  matter  was  gone  into  with  some  care,  and  it  is  embodied  in  a  type- 
written report,  which  of  course  has  not  been  corrected  by  Lieutenant 
Menocal,  because  he  has  not  been  here,  but  it  can  be  used  to  avoid 
the  consumption  of  time.  I  do  not  know  it  will  cover  the  whole  ground, 
but  it  was  taken  down  and 

Mr.  Menocal.  I  have  surveyed  the  lower  route,  the  upper  route, 
the  west  side,  and  run  lines  myself  personally.  I  have  run  trial  lines 
on  the  west  side  and  have  made  surveys  of  the  river  and  have  located 
the  line  along  the  banks  of  the  river  as  far  as  Greytown;  have  made 
detail  surveys  of  the  streams  of  the  San  Juanillo  in  187G,  and  then  I 
ran  a  ])reliminary  line  in  1885  from  Ochoa  to  Greytown,  and  from  1888 
to  1891  1  almost  lived  on  that  ground. 

Mr.  Stewart.  Colonel  Ludlow  said  you  revised  your  estimates  to 
conform  with  their  estimates.    Will  you  explain  thaf? 

Mr.  Menocal.  I  do  not  see  how  we  could  do  that  when  I  had  not 
seen  the  estimate  of  the  board.  The  estimate  of  the  board  was  not 
made  at  the  time. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  made  no  such  statement. 

Mr.  Menocal.  If  that  statement  was  made  it  is  incorrect,  because 


324  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

this  revised  estimate  was  made  before  the  board's  report  was  made 
public. 

Colonel  LiTDLOW.  Colonel  Ludlow  Las  made  no  estimate,  if  you  please. 

Mr.  Patterson.  I  understand  there  luive  been  two  estimates  made 
by  Mr.  Menoeal,  and  that  he  has  revised  in  some  respects  the  first  esti- 
unite  he  made,  and  1  have  been  confused  a  little  bit  in  this  way  whether 
Mr.  Miller  in  liis  very  lucid  discussion  of  this  matter  based  his  remarks 
upon  the  first  or  the  second  estimate. 

Mr.  Menocal.  If  the  committee  will  allow  me,  I  would  like  to  say 
a  few^  words  in  regard  to  that.  The  estimate  has  been  revised  three 
times. 

The  Chairman.  Give  the  dates  of  the  three. 

Mr.  Menocal.  First  in  1S89,  when  the  original  surveys  were  made 
and  the  borings  had  not  been  completed.  That  has  not  been  printed 
and  does  not  appear  in  the  records.  Then  in  1890,  after  the  borings 
were  made,  a  revision  was  made  and  the  estimate  which  I  had  made 
before  in  ISSO  w^as  noted  "corrected  to  that  date."  Since  that  date  we 
have  made  very  extensive  and  very  valuable  examinations  in  Nicara- 
gua in  connection  with  the  sites  of  locks,  embankments,  and  all  that 
work  which  is  necessary  to  perfect  and  complete  the  plans  of  the  canal, 
the  working  drawings  you  may  say,  and  these  examinations  were  car- 
ried on  up  to  the  time  when  work  was  stopped.  The  last  money  spent 
by  the  company  was  to  make  diamond-drill  borings  at  the  site  of  Tola 
Dam. 

Mr.  Stewart.  Excuse  me  one  moment;  I  want  to  make  my  state- 
ment fuller.  Were  your  later  estimates  controlled  by  the  estimates  of 
the  board? 

Mr.  Menocal.  The  estimates  of  the  board  had  not  been  made  up  to 
that  time. 

Mr.  Patterson.  What  is  the  date  of  your  last  estimate? 

Mr.  Menocal.  I  think  it  is  July,  1895.  I  will  come  to  that  if  you 
will  allow  me  to  proceed  in  the  order  in  which  the  matter  has  taken 
place. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Very  well. 

Mr.  Menocal.  As  I  stated,  we  made  extensive  examinations  of  the 
site  of  the  embankments  and  the  dams,  and  made  deep  borings  at  the 
Tola  Dam,  and  made  numerous  borings  at  the  site  of  the  three  locks  on 
the  east  side,  and  we  prepared  ourselves  to  make  the  final  drawings. 
The  estimates,  which  had  been  made  up  to  that  time,  July,  1895,  had 
been  based  only  on  the  information  we  had  up  to  the  date  of  those 
estimates,  and  the  last  estimate  made  in  1895  is  based  on  the  data  that 
had  l)een  accumulated  uj)  to  that  time.  Now,  in  connection  with  that, 
it  would  be  well  for  me  to  refer  to  the  remarks  which  have  been  fre- 
quently made  here — that  the  company  have  been  unable  to  present  to  this 
board  detailed  drawings  of  all  the  w^orks  proposed.  That  is  very  true. 
That  statement  is  correct.  We  were  not  yet  in  a  position  to  make  those 
detailed  drawings.  They  were  to  be  made  Avhen  all  the  information 
had  been  gathered.  They  were  to  be  the  final  drawings,  on  which  the 
work  was  to  be  contracted  for.  In  most  cases  we  had  the  necessary 
information,  but  in  others,  not  enough  to  satisfy  me;  and  I  was  i)ro- 
ceeding  with  this  investigation  Avhen  the  work  stopped  in  Nicaragua. 

The  estimates  were  nnule,  as  I  said,  on  the  information  obtained  up 
to  date,  and  as  the  work  is  mostly  all  excavation  exce])t  locks  aiul  dams, 
the  estimafes  for  locks  and  dams  were  based  on  preliminary  sketches, 
you  may  call  them.  A  lock  is  a  very  simple  thing  to  calculate  approx- 
imately.   You  have  the  foundation,  side  walls,  and  gates.    Those  are 


NICARAGUA   CANAL.  325 

the  principal  parts,  and  any  practical  engineer  when  he  knows  the 
ground  on  whicli  he  is  to  build  his  work  can  come  within  a  small  per- 
centage of  what  it  is  going  to  cost  and  what  amount  of  work  he  has  to 
do.  The  estimated  cost  is  a  question  of  opinion  and  may  differ  greatly 
between  engineers  and  contractors.  These  working  drawings  were  not 
yet  made,  and  when  this  board  applied  for  them  they  were  told  frankly 
we  did  not  have  them.  A  number  of  them  had  been  commenced,  but 
not  advanced  sufficiently  to  enable  me  to  jiresent  them  for  the  criticism 
of  this  board,  as  they  were  not  yet  perfected. 

Now,  I  am  going  to  refer  here  to  an  instance  to  show  you  how  prac- 
tical engineers  generally  proceed  in  a  matter  of  that  kind.  I  am  going 
to  refer  to  the  construction  of  tlie  enormous  bridge  that  is  now  being- 
built  over  the  East  Eiver  in  New  York,  much  larger  than  the  present 
bridge,  with  a  larger  span,  wider  and  much  heavier,  the  whole  struc- 
ture resting  on  two  piers.  Eminent  engineers  have  made  plans  for 
that  bridge  and  estimated  the  cost  of  it.  These  plans  and  estimates 
have  been  approved  by  the  board  of  public  works  of  the  two  cities. 
The  cities  have  agreed  to  build  this  bridge  on  these  plans  and  estimates, 
and  a  large  sum  of  money  has  already  been  s^sent  on  the  right  of  way 
and  preparatory  work.  Work  you  may  say  has  been  commenced,  and 
an  eminent  engineer  has  been  put  in  charge  of  it.  Only  three  weeks 
ago  arrangements  were  made  and  borings  were  commenced  at  the  sites 
of  these  piers;  and  as  to  final  borings,  to  ascertain  at  what  depth  the 
rock  ledge  lies  on  which  the  piers  are  to  rest,  np  to  the  middle  of  last 
week  only  one  had  been  sunk  to  the  depth  of  70  feet  below  high  water 
mark,  where  they  think  a  solid  ledge  of  rock  will  be  found.  That  is  the 
only  possible  way  to  do  work  of  that  kind,  and  one  would  be  a  poor 
engineer  if  he  does  not  change  his  plan  if  he  sees  an  opportunity  to  do 
so  to  advantage. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  To  the  advantage  of  the  work? 

Mr.  Menocal.  Certainly.  He  would  be  a  poor  engineer  if  he  does 
not  sleep  over  his  plans,  exerting  his  mind  on  the  best  methods  to  over- 
come the  difliculties  constantly  arising  in  works  of  this  kind,  and  dur- 
ing the  night  something  may  occur  to  him  as  to  how  best  to  do  this, 
that,  or  the  otlier,  and  it  is  his  duty  to  do  it.  What  engineer  has  under- 
taken a  work  of  that  kind  that  has  not  introduced  changes  in  it?  1 
would  like  to  see  one.  You  can  design  a  bridge  that  rests  on  two 
rocky  bluffs,  and  of  course  design  at  the  start  braces  and  counter- 
braces  and  upper  and  lower  cords,  etc. — in  fact,  every  part  of  the  struc- 
ture— but  that  is  a  fixed  piece  of  mechanical  work  which  you  can  locate 
and  work  out  in  detail  beforehand  and  definitely.  But  when  you  have 
to  deal  with  the  excavation  of  rivers,  swamps,  and  hills  and  difliculties 
connected  with  building  dams,  locks,  etc.,  which  an  engineer  can  never 
foresee  exactly  in  all  and  every  detail,  he  would  be  a  very  poor  engineer 
if  he  does  not  change  his  plans  when  he  can  do  so  to  the  advantage  of 
the  work.  Very  Avellj  that  is  what  I  have  done  and  what  I  will  do 
again. 

This  plan  presented  here  as  my  plan  of  the  OchoaDam  is  an  obsolete 
plan.  It  is  merely  a  sketch  made  when  we  had  not  yet  made  borings  at 
the  site  of  the  dam.  It  has  no  value  whatever.  It  was  not  given  to 
this  board  as  the  plan  of  the  Ochoa  Dam,  and  the  board  had  no  right 
to  bring  it  here,  because  they  were  told  it  was  not  a  final  plan  for  the 
dam,  but  a  preliminary  study.  It  may  be  very  true,  as  they  say,  that 
they  had  great  difficulties  in  estimating  for  that  dam  and  other'works 
pro])osed,  but  that  is  their  business,  not  ours.  If  they  can  not  esti- 
mate with  sufficient  approximation  for  a  lock,  after  we  give  them  a 


326  NICARAGUA   CANAL. 

foundation  for  tliat  lock,  as  sliowii  by  numerous  boringvS — well,  they 
ouji'lit  to. 

Mr.  Patterson.  There  is  just  one  question  in  that  connection  that  I 
desire  to  ask  you.  You  heard  Senator  Miller's  statement  before  the 
committee  yesterday,  1  suppose,  and  a  good  deal  was  said  about  prop- 
ositions that  were  submitted  here  by  Mr.  Treat? 

Mr.  Mknocal.  Yes,  sir. 

INIr.  Patterson.  And  then  about  estimates  made  and  concurred  in 
by  jMr.  Donaldson,  an  Englisli  engineer! 

Mr.  Menocal.  Yes,  sir;  I  heard  that. 

JMr.  Patterson.  Now,  was  the  proi)osition  submitted  by  Mr.  Treat 
based  upon  the  estimate  of  1895  or  the  estimate  of  ISDO? 

Mr.  Menocal.  You  can  see  by  the  date  of  the  proposition  that  it 
was  made  on  the  estimate  of  1890. 

Mr.  Patterson.  And  Mr.  Donaldson  made  his  estimate  on  the  1890 
basis? 

Mr.  Menocal.  Certainly;  the  date  will  show  that.  There  is  another 
question  wliicli  has  been  brought  uj)  here,  and  a  great  deal  lias  been 
said  about  it,  and  that  is  about  the  hydraulic  data  and  the  rainfall.  It 
is  said  about  the  hydranlic  data  we  bad  not  enough.  They  have  been 
trying  to  make  me  appear  in  a  false  light  befor(?this  committee  because  I 
had  stated  before  that  we  had  information  enough  to  enable  me  to 
arrive  at  conclusions  as  to  the  effect  which  the  flow  of  the  streams  and 
the  rainfall  would  have  on  the  work  which  we  had  pro])Osed  in  Nicara- 
gua. Now,  you  will  find  in  my  Avritten  statement  that  this  hydraulic 
data,  to  be  of  any  value,  would  liave  to  be  observed  for  a  long  number 
of  years.  The  rainfall  of  one,  two,  three,  or  four  years  is  not  going  to 
give  very  much  light.  The  observation  of  years  may  be  entirely  uj)set 
by  the  results  obtained  in  the  last  year. 

There  are  only  two  things  we  have  to  consider  in  this  case — the  mini- 
mum and  maxinmm  flow  of  the  river.  We  know  sufiticiently  close  what 
the  minimum  flow  is.  That  is  what  will  guide  us  in  determining  how 
much  water  we  can  use  to  work  the  canal  in  the  dry  season,  and  even 
that  is  very  much  in  doubt,  because  when  we  raise  the  OchoaDam  and 
increase  the  flooded  area  and  create  a  larger  reservoir  we  will  have  a 
larger  lake  to  draw  from.  No  engineer  has  ever  questioned  the  propo- 
sition that  we  have  water  enough  in  this  immense  lake  of  2,700  square 
miles  and  the  additional  lake  created  by  the  flooded  area  to  work  that 
canal.  Then  as  to  the  maximum,  I  have  ascertained  that  as  far  as  it 
has  been  possible  to  do  so.  There  has  been  only  one  large  flood  in 
Nicaragua  while  I  have  been  there  that  I  have  been  able  to  observe, 
and  that  was  in  1889.  It  was  gauged  not  by  myself,  but  by  my  assist- 
ant engineers,  and  it  was  well  and  accurately  done.  While  I  have 
that  gauging,  I  know  the  river  rises  considerably  more.  There  are 
indications  that  it  rises  more  than  shown  by  that  gauging.  For  that 
reason  I  have  taken  the  result  of  that  gauging  and  increased  it  by  50 
per  cent.  Then  in  proportioning  weirs  for  the  discharge  of  the  surplus 
waters,  which  we  may  have  to  disi)ose  of  in  the  rainy  season,  we  i)ro- 
vide  for  double  that  amount;  that  is  to  say,  that  instead  of  00,000 
cul)ic  feet  per  second  we  have  provided  for  120,000  cubic  feet,  with  a 
maximum  fluctuation  of  4  feet  over  weir  crest,  a  fluctuation  which  is 
inevital)Ie. 

Now,  this  question  of  controlling  the  river  and  lake,  of  course,  is  a 
problem  on  which  engineers  will  differ,  and  it  is  useless  to  bring  it  up 
here.  I  think  it  can  be  done  inside  of  2  feet.  Now,  the  rise  of  the  river 
has  been  represented  here  as  an  enormous  rise  of  21  feet  or  20  feet  at 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  327 

Maclmca  Eapids,  and  at  other  places  of  12,  14,  and  15  feet.  Let  that 
be.  What  does  it  show?  That  water  always  rises  suddenly  after  a 
heavy  rainfall  or  even  after  a  moderate  rainfall  at  the  rapids.  There  is  a 
contraction  of  the  cliannel  where  that  elevation  was  taken  in  the  river, 
where  the  width  of  the  river  is  less  than  half  the  averaji'e.  There  is  a 
stream  coming  into  the  river  San  Juan  at  that  very  point  at  rigiit  angles 
to  it,  not  a  very  large  stream,  but  a  vSmall  torrent,  that  comes  from  the 
very  higii  mountains,  and  there  is  also  an  island  in  the  center  of  that 
narrow  gorge,  and  consequently  an  accumulation  takes  place  there  which 
is  inevitable.  Such  an  accumulation  takes  place  at  the  foot  of  all 
rapids.  At  the  head  of  the  same  rapids  the  rise  probably  was  not  10 
feet,  and  there  is  a  series  of  rapids  from  Toro  to  Machuca,  where  the 
river  can  not  assume  any  regular  regimen.  It  is  changing  there  all  the 
time  on  account  of  the  rapids,  buttake  it  above  the  Toro  Rapids,  where 
the  river  has  an  even  inclination,  uniform  banks,  with  even  elevation 
and  a  regular  regimen,  and  there  you  will  find  that  the  river  does  not 
rise  more  than  we  have  stated,  or  very  little  more.  In  that  section 
the  river  is  changing  constantly,  and  nobody  can  say  how  high  or 
how  low  it  will  be  from  day  to  day,  but  it  certainly  can  not  rise  8,  10, 
or  20  feet,  because  in  such  a  case  the  river  would  be  running  upstream 
toward  the  lake.  You  get  the  river  to  rise  above  8  or  9  feet,  and  it 
would  run  back  to  the  lake  instead  of  running  down. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Are  you  through  with  that? 

Mr.  Menocal.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  I  wish  you  would  state  to  the  committee  when  it 
was  you  became  an  officer  of  the  Government,  in  what  year? 

Mr.  Menocal.  In  1872  I  was  employed  by  the  Government  to  com- 
mence the  surveys.  I  was  commissioned  as  an  officer  of  the  Govern- 
ment on  the  25th  of  July,  1874. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Will  you  state  to  this  committee  what  works  you 
have  had  charge  of  since  that  time? 

Mr.  INlBNOCAL.  I  have  been  making  all  the  explorations  in  that  coun- 
try to  develop  and  design  this  canal  -route,  and  up  to  the  time  I  found 
this  route  no  engineer  had  ever  jjroposed  a  canal  there  except  by  fol- 
lowing the  bank  of  the  river. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  But  I  am  asking  you  now  about  what  Government 
work  you  have  done? 

Mr.  Menocal.  That  was  a  part  of  Government  work.  When  I  made 
that  survey  of  1885  I  was  working  for  the  Government.  When  I  made 
the  survey  of  the  west  coast  of  the  lake  I  was  under  orders  of  the  Gov- 
ernment. I  also  made  surveys  for  the  Panama  Canal  as  chief  engineer, 
as  an  officer  of  the  JSTavy  in  charge  of  the  exi^lorations.  I  was  ordered 
to  the  Paris  Congress  where  the  question  as  to  which  was  the  best 
route  for  the  canal  across  the  isthmus  was  considered;  I  was  sent  there 
as  one  of  the  commissioners  for  the  United  States  Government.  During 
all  the  time  in  which  I  have  not  been  in  Nicaragua  I  have  been  actively 
engaged  in  works  here  done  under  the  Navy  Department  in  the  con- 
struction of  dry  docks,  piers,  and  the  gun  shops  at  Washington,  which 
I  designed  and  built  myself,  and  in  addition  to  those  duties  I  had  been 
engaged  for  eight  years  as  consulting  engineer  in  the  Kavy  Depart- 
ment, a  position  which  Mr.  Endicott  holds  to-day.  I  held  that  position 
before  he  was  ordered  to  that  duty. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  In  what  year  were  you  in  the  same  position  now 
occupied  by  Mr.  Endicott? 

Mr.  jVIenocal.  For  seven  or  eight  years  previous  to  his  detail.  When 
1  was  given  leave  of  absence  to  go  to  Nicaragua  to  take  the  position  as 


32  S  NICARAGUA   CANAL. 

chief  engineer  of  this  canal  company,  I  reqnested  to  be  detached  from 
that  duty,  and  Mr.  Endicott  was  then  ordered  to  take  the  place  which 
I  had  occupied  for  seven  or  eight  years.  Since  then  I  have  been  con- 
stantly at  work.  I  have  been  ordered  by  the  Government  to  numerous 
boards  to  solve  difficult  questions  of  engineering.  I  have  designed  a 
good  many  important  works  for  the  Navy  Department  which  have  been 
carried  out,  and  I  have  now  fourteen  or  iifteen  contracts  to  look  after  for 
building  docks,  dry  docks,  etc.,  at  the  navy-yard,  New  York. 

Mr.  Stewart.  What  time  did  Davis  go  to  Nicaragua? 

Mr.  Menocal.  He  was  tirst  employed  by  me  to  go  to  Nicaragua  at 
the  end  of  1887.  Then,  again,  1  employed  him  to  go  back  there  in  1889, 
I  think. 

Mr.  Stewart.  You  made  surveyings  and  borings  too? 

Mr.  Menocal.  Yes,  sir;  Mr.  Davis  was  one  of  the  late  arrivals.  I 
started  the  surveys  in  1872,  and  Mr.  Davis  did  not  go  to  Nicaragua 
for  the  first  time  until  1887. 

Mr.  Corliss.  You  spoke  of  the  bridge  which  is  to  be  built  at  New 
York. 

Mr.  Menocal.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Corliss.  Was  that  project  undertaken  by  those  cities  and  the 
money  appropriated  upon  estimates  alone,  or  were  detail  plans  prepared 
upon  which 

Mr.  Menocal.  Well,  there  were  preliminary  plans  for  the  super- 
structure and  piers.  The  superstructure  may  remain  as  it  was  origi- 
nally designed ;  but  the  plans  for  the  i)iers  for  the  sup])ort  of  the  whole 
superstructure,  of  course,  will  not  be  made  until  borings  h.ave  been 
made,  and  that  is  being  done  now,  and  the  first  one  was  sunk  only  last 
week  to  a  depth  of  70  feet. 

Mr.  Corliss.  Was  not  the  character  of  the  earth  and  rock  well  known 
in  the  locality? 

Mr.  Menocal.  It  was  estimated  approximately.  They  had  some 
borings  made  with  an  auger  and  found  something  they  thought  to  be 
rock,  and  they  made  their  calculations  accordingly,  and  they  may  have 
increased  the  estimates  by  a  large  percentage  to  provide  for  contin- 
gencies. But  the  fact  remains  that  after  this  work  had  been  projected 
and  plans  completed  for  the  superstructure,  and  actual  work  com- 
menced, they  are  now  sinking  rock-drill  borings  to  determine  the 
depth  of  the  rock  ledge.  I  think  Mr.  Bennett,  from  Brooklyn,  knows 
that  very  well,  and  one  can  see  every  day  in  the  Brooklyn  Eagle  to 
what  depth  they  are  reaching.  They  went  down  so  many  feet  and 
passed  rock  and  struck  clay,  and  then  rock  again,  until  they  came  to 
rock  which  they  believed  to  be  a  rock  ledge  70  feet  below  high-water 
mark. 

Mr.  Corliss.  Do  you  know  of  work  that  has  been  undertaken  by 
l)rivate  enterprise  involving  so  large  a  sum  of  money  without  full  detail 
plans  before  the  investment  of  capital  in  it! 

Mr.  Menocal.  That  is  generally  the  case,  except,  of  course,  when 
you  have  a  building  or  a  work  that  is  concentrated,  when  there  is  no 
reason  why  you  should  not  prepare  all  details  before  work  is  com- 
menced. But  an  examination  is  generally  made  by  engineers  sufticient 
in  detail  to  satisfy  them  that  the  work  is  practical  and  can  be  done 
within  a  certain  limit  of  cost,  and  then  unknown  quantities  are  provided 
for  by  a  percentage  for  contingencies,  as  I  have  done  in  this  case.  I  have 
added  25  per  cent  on  the  original  estimates,  and  in  the  last  estimate  I 
reduced  it  to  20  per  cent,  for  the  reason  that  we  have  gained  so  much 
information  over  what  we  had  before,  and  the  methods  of  doing  work 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  329 

of  tlie  kind  we  have  to  do  in  Nicaragua  have  been  so  greatly  improved 
in  connection  with  the  excavation  on  the  Cliicago  Drainage  Canal  and 
other  works  of  a  similar  kind,  that  it  would  be  almost  improper,  I  should 
say,  for  an  engineer  to  repeat  or  to  adopt  the  same  prices  he  thought 
sufficient  six  or  seven  years  ago.  If  an  engineer  thought  that  $1.50 
per  cubic  yard  for  rock  excavation  was  a  fair  price  ten  years  ago,  why 
he  ought  to  know  that  the  methods  which  have  been  invented  since 
and  put  in  successful  oi)eration  Avould  enable  him  to  reduce  his  esti- 
mates in  proportion  to  the  advances  which  have  been  made  in  the 
science  of  engineering. 

Mr.  Corliss.  What  is  the  total  amount  of  your  estimate  for  this 
entire  project ? 

Mr.  Menocal.  I  thiidv  the  last  estimate,  with  20  per  cen  t  added,  comes 
to  some  169,000,000  or  $70,000,000. 

Mr.  Patterson.  And  is  in  round  figures  $70,000,000? 

Mr.  Menocal.  Yes,  sir;  about  that. 

Mr.  Corliss.  That  is  on  a  plan  of  a  canal  with  only  70  feet  in  width 
at  the  locks? 

Mr.  Menocal.  Seventy  feet  at  the  locks,  and  the  whole  canal  is  120 
feet  in  the  earth  sections,  100  in  the  rock  sections,  and  125  in  the  river, 
and  150  feet  in  the  lake. 

Mr.  Corliss.  Have  you  made  any  estimates  of  the  cost  at  the  width 
suggested  of  90  feet? 

Mr.  Menocal.  No,  sir.  It  is  very  easy,  it  is  a  comparatively  small 
sum  of  money,  which  will  be  more  than  covered  by  the  20  per  cent  added 
to  the  cost  itself.  It  is  a  \  ery  small  amount  in  proportion.  I  do  not 
think  it  would  be  more  tlum  10  per  cent,  or  something  of  that  kind,  of 
the  estimated  cost  of  the  locks. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Now,  the  board  of  commissioners  appointed  by  the 
President  have  made  suggestions  in  regard  to  various  changes  which 
they  think  ought  to  be  made  in  the  general  plan  of  the  construction  of 
this  canal.  For  instance,  that  the  locks  ought  to  be  larger,  that  the 
river  ought  to  be  deeper  and  wider,  that  the  channel  cut  out  in  the 
lake  ought  to  be  wider,  and  various  other  changes  which  are  more 
readily  suggested  to  your  mind  than  mine.  Have  you  made  any  calcu- 
lations now  based  upon  those  premises  as  to  what  will  be  the  cost  of 
the  canal? 

Mr.  Menocal.  No,  sir;  I  have  not.  I  suppose  the  calculations  of 
the  board  are  correct.  I  have  treated  this  question  of  changes  in  my 
original  paper,  and  as  I  have  stated  I  believe  the  computations  of  the 
board  to  be  correct. 

Mr.  Patterson.  The  estimate  of  the  board,  I  believe,  is  $13,3,000,000  ? 

Mr.  Menocal.  If  I  remember  correctly,  it  is,  and  I  suppose  their  cal- 
culations are  correct.  Whether  the  changes  are  desirable  or  not  depends 
upon  circumstances,  but  I  have  no  doubt  the  figures  are  correct,  and 
they  have  also  corrected  an  error  which  was  made  in  our  estimates  on 
the  amount  of  excavation  in  the  river.  The  error  was  transferred  from 
one  of  the  Government's  reports  to  the  comijany's  estimate.  The  com- 
pany adopted  the  Government  report  in  estimating  for  work  on  the 
river,  and  the  amounts  contained  in  that  report  of  1885  were  merely 
transferred.  Do  you  follow  me?  They  were  transferred  from  the  Gov- 
ernment report  of  1885  to  the  company's  estimate.  There  was  an  error 
made  in  transferring  this  estimate  of  1885  and  it  went  into  print  in  that 
way;  the  error  was  not  discovered,  and  when  the  commission  were 
examining  our  figures  and  verifying  them  they  discovered  this  error, 
which  I  admit,  and  the  estimates  of  the  company  must  be  corrected  to 
meet  that  discrepancy. 


330  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

Mr.  Patterson.  In  saying  yonr  estimate  is  $70,000,000,  is  tliat  25  per 
cent  added? 

Mr.  Menocal.  This  last  estimate,  as  I  stated,  provides  for  20  per 
cent,  and  in  tlie  previous  estimate  it  was  25  per  cent. 

]VIr.  DooLiTTLE.  With  tlie  20  per  cent  added  it  makes  $70,000,000? 

Mr.  Menocal.  About;  in  that  vicinity. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  AVliat  iier  cent  did  tlie  board  add? 

Mr.  Menocal.  I  think  20  per  cent. 

Mr.  Patterson.  And  by  adding  20  per  cent  they  reached  $133,000,000? 

Mr.  Menocal.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Patterson.  So  there  is  a  difference  between  you  and  the  board 
of  863,000,000? 

Mr.  JMenocal.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Corliss.  Assuming  that  the  plan  and  the  changes  suggested  by 
the  Commission  were  adopted  as  to  enlarging  and  extending  the  work, 
in  your  judgment,  what  would  the  entire  project  cost? 

Mr.  ^NlENOCAL.  I  have  not  figured  it. 

Mr.  Corliss.  Do  vou  think  it  AvcKild  reach  the  sum  they  have  esti- 
mated? 

Mr.  Menocal.  It  is  very  simple  to  compute,  and  the  commission's 
figures  I  think  are  correct.  I  have  no  reason  to  doubt  them,  and  apply- 
ing my  prices  to  the  dimensions  proposed  by  tliem  it  would  be  very 
easily  arrived  at. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  But  your  prices  do  not  agree  with  the  commission's? 
.  Mr.  ]\Ienocal.  ^o,  sir.     Tliey  do  not  in  most  cases. 

]\[r.  Corliss.  This  jn-oposition  of  Mr.  Treat  read  by  Senator  Miller 
yesterday  was  based  upon  your  plan? 

Mr.  Menocal.  Y"es,  sir;  my  plan  and  estimate  for  prices. 

Mr.  Corliss.  So  if  the  plan  adopted  by  the  commission  was  approved 
it  would  increase  the  expenses  $33,000,000? 

]\rr.  Patterson.  $63,()OI>,000. 

Mr.  Menocal.  It  would  increase  it  considerably. 

Mr.  Corliss.  Over  and  above  the  estimate  of  Mr.  Treat? 

]\rr.  JMenocal.  Not  quite  the  same  amount,  because  Mr.  Treat  has 
agreed  to  do  the  work  at  a  less  price,  based  on  my  estimate.  Tlio 
quantities  may  be  changed,  you  see,  but  the  unit  price,  as  1  understand, 
of  .\[r.  Treat  will  be  about  the  same  as  mine. 

Mr.  Corliss.  Put  Mr.  Treat's  proposition  to  build  the  entire  canal 
was  on  your  plan? 

Mr.  ^NIenocal.  Y'es,  sir. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  What  date? 

Mr.  Corliss.  It  was  rend  here  yesterday. 

Mr.  :Menocal.  Of  1800,  and  not  1805. 

Mr.  CoRLLSS.  I  understand  that.  I  am  going  to  add  that.  So  we 
have  no  proposition  trom  Mr.  Treat  to  construct  this  canal  throughout 
of  the  capacity  as  suggested  by  the  commission? 

Mr.  jNIenocal.  No,  sir. 

Mr.  Patterson.  We  have  no  propositions  coming  from  Mr.  Treat  to 
construct  the  canal  upon  estimates  submitted  by  you  in  1805? 

Mr.  Mi'^.NOCAL.  No,  sir. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Before  you  adjourn  I  would  say  I  would  be  glad 
to  have  the  indulgence  of  the  committee  for  the  matter  of  an  hour  at 
your  convenience. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  ^Ir.  Chairman,  I  shall  object,  very  decidedly.  This 
Commission  came  belore  this  committee  with  their  report.  Tlien  there 
was  a  reply  by  Senator  Miller,  and  also  by  Mr.  Menocal.    Then  these 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  ool 

g'cntlonicii  came  here  and  liave  consumed  a  j^reat  deal  of  time,  and 
they  liave  i^one  over  this  subject  veiy  tlioroughly  and  brou.iibt  out 
some  entirely  new  matters  in  their  fresh  verbal  statements  before  this 
committee.  Now,  then,  in  simple  rebuttal  of  those  statements,  it  was 
asked  that  Senator  Miller  and  Mr.  Menocal  appear  before  the  commit- 
tee to  close  their  rebuttal,  which  they  did.  Now,  then,  if  there  is  to 
be  a  surrebuttal,  and  a  rebuttal  added  to  that,  and  all  the  time  taken 
up  by  these  gentlemen,  of  course  the  labors  of  this  committee  are  never 
going  to  close  and  we  will  never  be  finished.  Of  course,  if  Colonel 
Ludlow  here  is  jiermitted  to  appear  again  and  produce  new  matter,why 
then  we  should  have  to  have  Senator  Miller  and  Mr.  ]\Ienocal  again. 
If  they  disclose  new  matter  we  have  to  liave  Colonel  Ludlow  again, 
and  after  Colonel  Ludlow,  Senator  Miller  and  Mr.  Menocal  again.  I 
move  you,  Mr.  Chairman,  that  the  committee  declare  the  hearings  closed 
on  the  subject  of  Nicaragua  Canal  Conipany. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  May  I  have  the  indulgence  of  tlie  committee  for 
two  minutes,  Mr.  Chairman? 

Mr.  Patterson.  Mr.  Chairman,  I  will  just  say  this.  So  far  as  I  am 
concerned,  I  am  very  anxious  to  arrive  at  the  truth  of  this  matter. 
These  gentlemen  who  have  been  discussing  this  matter  are  professional 
gentlemen,  they  have  some  differences  of  opinion  about  it,  they  both 
represent  the  Government.  I  think  both  the  Commission  and  Mr.  Men- 
ocal may  be  professi(uially  biased,  as  all  gentlemen  are.  I  know  wher- 
ever I  am  professionally  interested  I  am  biased  more  or  less;  but  they 
are  honorable  gentlemen,  and  they  are  trying  to  present  the  truth  of 
this  case,  and  so  far  as  I  am  concerned  I  would  be  very  glad  to  hear 
Mr.  Menocal  make  any  further  statement  before  this  committee  which 
occurs  to  him,  and  I  would  be  very  glad  to  hear  Colonel  Ludlow  make 
any  statement  that  occurs  to  him;  and  I  want  to  say  now,  that  if  this 
committee  allows  Colonel  Ludlow  to  come  before  it  and  make  an  addi- 
tional explanation,  and  anything  should  occur  to  which  Mr.  Menocal 
would  like  to  reply,  he  should  have  the  opportunity,  so  far  as  I  am 
concerned. 

This  is  a  very  great  proposition.  It  is  one  involving  very  great  inter- 
ests, and  one  that  is  very  fascinating  to  me.  There  is  no  man  around 
this  board  who  wants  to  see  the  Nicaragua  Canal  constructed  more 
than  I  do,  and  no  man  feels  more  disposed  to  study  the  proposition  and 
to  arrive  at  the  truth  of  it  than  I  am,  but,  so  far  as  I  am  concerned,  I 
am  no  engineer.  I  have  looked  upon  what  these  g:entlemen  say  very 
much  as  a  juror  would,  weighing  it  as  best  I  can  and  seeking  to  arrive 
at  a  conclusion  that  I  think  will  be  satisfactory  to  the  American  i)eople 
and  the  public  interests,  and  if  Colonel  Ludlow  desires  to  make  a  fur- 
ther statement  before  this  committee  I  insist  that  he  ought  to  have  the 
opportunity  to  do  it,  and  in  that  connection  I  want  to  say  that  if  any- 
thing occurs  to  which  Mr.  Menocal,  who  is  here,  would  like  to  reply  at 
the  same  session  I  want  him  to  make  any  exi^lanation  or  any  further 
suggestions,  or  any  other  comment  which  may  occur  to  him.  That  is 
the  way  I  feel  about  it,  and  I  want  these  gentlemen  to  feel  that  they 
have  had  the  fullest  opportunity  of  discussion  and  the  fullest  o]>portu- 
nity  of  explanation.  Now,  something  may  have  occurred  to  Colonel 
Ludlow  in  the  progress  of  this  discussion  this  evening  which  has  not 
occurred  to  any  member  of  the  committee.  He  is  a  professional  man 
and  we  are  not,  and  if  he  desires  to  make  any  further  statement  before 
the  committee  I  think  that  the  interests  of  the  public  service  require 
we  should  hear  him.     That  is  my  idea  about  that, 

Mr.  Sherman.  1  move  that  we  go  into  executive  session,  and  we  have 
the  right  to  decide  what  further  we  shall  do  by  ourselves. 


332  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

Colonel  Tatdlow.  Before  puttiiijic  tliat  motion- 
Mr.  Sherman.  Mr.  Cliairiiiiiii,  I  liave  moved- 


Colonel  Ludlow.  Will  you  permit  me  to  briefly  state  our  position  in 
the  matter;  I  will  simply  state  our  position  and  leave  tlie  matter  with 
tlie  committee'^ 

The  Chairman.  I  think  we  understand  that. 

Mr.  Sherman.  I  ask  that  my  motion  be  put. 

The  Chairman.  It  is  moved  that  the  comiuittec  now  go  into  exec- 
utive session. 

The  motion  was  adopted,  and  therefore  the  committee  went  into 
executive  session. 

Thursday,  May  7,  1896. 

The  Committee  on  Interstate  and  Foreign  Commerce  this  day  met, 
Hon.  William  P.  Hepburn  in  the  chair. 

STATEMENT  OF  COL.  WILLIAM  LUDLOW— Resumed. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Mr.  Chairman  and  gentleman  of  the  committee,  I 
have  no  desire  to  jirotract  this  hearing  unduly,  or  to  take  up  the  time 
of  the  committee  here  in  any  way,  but  there  were  some  points  in  con- 
nection with  the  testimony  given  by  Mr.  Miller  and  Mr.  Menocal  which 
I  regard  as  very  important  and  which  I  think  the  committee  will  also 
think  important  and  M'hicli  I  desire  to  submit  as  a  part  of  the  record.  I 
will  take  them  up,  if  yon  please,  and  treat  the  matter  as  brieflj'  as  may 
be.  In  regard  to  what  Mr.  Miller  may  have  said  personally  about  me 
I  will  not  trouble  the  committee.  I  recognize  that  there  is  a  considera- 
ble disparity  between  Mr.  Miller's  views  and  my  own  as  to  what  might 
be  considered  decent  or  proper  conduct  for  an  officer  in  the  service  or 
out  of  it,  but  I  am  content  to  leave  the  gap  unfilled.  We  have  our  own 
criterion  of  those  matters,  and  from  our  point  of  view  for  an  officer  in 
the  service  or  any  other  responsible  position,  one  duty  is  to  tell  the 
trnth  and  to  wrong  no  man,  and  I  have  always  endeavored  to  follow 
that.  Whatever  the  contrast  may  be  between  that  view  and  others  it  is 
not  for  me  to  indicate. 

I  will  now  take  np  the  technical  matters,  but  there  is  a  point  to  which 
I  wish  to  refer  at  the  same  time,  as  having  a  personal  relation,  which 
is  in  reference  to  Mr.  Davis,  for  the  introduction  of  whose  name  in  this 
matter  I  am  responsible;  and  I  should  regret  it  extremely  that  Mr. 
Davis  should  suffer  in  any  wise,  and  the  only  satisfaction  that  I  have 
about  the  accusations  made  against  him  is  that  they  give  me  an  oppor- 
tunity very  promptly  to  refute  them.  I  have  submitted  to  the  commit- 
tee Mr.  Davis's  record  when  he  was  an  officer  of  the  Canadian  Pacific 
Eailroad  Company,  and  the  committee  is  in  possession  of  the  testimonial 
presented  to  him  by  the  direction  of  the  road  as  a  mark  of  very  distin- 
guished services.  I  have  submitted  his  record  while  in  the  employ  of 
the  District  government,  in  which  the  responsible  officials  here,  for  years 
thoroughly  cognizant  of  Mr.  Davis's  services,  unhesitatingly  testify  to 
his  ability  and  integrity,  and  declare  their  judgment  of  Mr.  Davis  as 
an  individual  whose  assertion  they  would  not  hesitate  to  accept.  That 
carries  the  matter  down  to  the  period  of  his  employment  by  the  canal 
company.  Of  this  Mr.  Davis  did  not  tell  us  much,  except  as  we  inci- 
dentally gathered  it,  but  we  had  no  reason  to  believe  he  was  in  any  other 
sense  than  a  trusted  and  capable  employee  of  the  company.  He  cer- 
tainly occupied  a  very  responsible  position  under  them,  and  if  my 
recollection  is  not  at  fault,  he  was  retained  almost  until  the  close,  and 
that  the  final  severance  of  his  relation  with  the  company  was  made 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  333 

upon  liis  own  resignation;  that  be  had  resigned  while  still  employed  in 
a  very  responsible  position  there. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Did  you  not  hear  Senator  Miller  state  here  that  he 
was  discharged'! 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes;  and  I  heard  Senator  Miller  say  other  things 
here,  Mr.  Doolittle.  There  is  no  evidence  of  that  fact  here  submitted, 
however,  either  by  Mr.  Miller  or  by  Mr.  Menocal.  It  would  have  been 
easy  to  secure  a  certitication  of  that  fact,  if  it  were  one. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  I  do  not  know  that  Senator  Miller's  word  needs  a 
certification. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  know  this:  He  was  employed  until  a  very  late 
day  by  the  company  in  a  responsible  position,  and  they  had  imposed 
upon  him  double  duties  down  there.  I  have  endeavored  to  refresh  my 
recollection  about  what  I  had  learned  about  it,  and  I  understand  that 
he  believed  that  he  was  entitled  to  an  increase  of  salary  from  the  com- 
pany in  consequence  of  the  extra  duties  imposed  upon  him;  and  the 
company  acceded  generally  to  the  equity  of  his  demand,  but  was  unable 
to  fulfill  it,  and  Mr.  Davis,  believing  that  he  had  been  promised  com- 
pensation, and  the  com^jany  withholding  it,  took  some  legal  means  to 
])rocure  it 

Mr.  Doolittle.  In  which  he  failed  in  the  courts? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  That  I  know  nothing  about;  but  as  to  whether  a 
man  should  or  should  not  resort  to  legal  methods  to  get  what  he 
believed  he  should  have  is  certainly  not  any  imputation  upon  his  integ- 
rity, and  I  desire  for  my  own  part  to  say  in  behalf  of  myself  and  my 
colleagues,  who  were  associated  with  Mr.  Davis,  day  in  and  day  out,  for 
six  months,  that  we  are  just  as  convinced  as  any  men  could  be  by 
knowledge  gained  by  a  very  close  and  intimate  connection  with  him 
that  the  man  is  absolutely  honest,  that  he  is  capable,  and  of  a  sturdy 
integrity  which  I  do  not  think  could  be  shaken  by  any  means. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  Do  you  not  think  you  have  used  that  man  Davis 
with  all  the  force  that  you  can  use  him  for  the  impeachment  of  Mr. 
Menocal  without  further  bolstering? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  am  responsible  for  the  introduction  of  Mr.  Davis's 
name,  and  he  has  been  gratuitously  assailed,  and  if  you  will  permit  me 
to  complete  my  remarks 

Mr.  Doolittle.  If  you  feel  now  the  point  of  your  instrument  is 
blunted,  I  think  the  time  has  passed  by  for  the  sharpening  of  it  for  the 
purposes  of  this  case. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Not  at  all.  I  think,  Mr.  Chairman,  if  you  please, 
I  should  prefer  to  continue  my  remarks.  If  Mr.  Doolittle  has  anything 
pertinent  to  say,  he  has  had  all  the  time  he  wanted,  and  I  have  no 
doubt  the  committee  will  give  him  as  much  more  as  he  wants,  but  I  do 
not  want  him  to  take  mine. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  You  are  simply  appearing  before  the  committee  at 
the  request  of  the  committee 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  represent  the  United  States  Government. 

Mr.  Doolittle  (continuing).  And  I  happen  to  be  a  member  of  the 
committee  and  have  my  rights  and  propose  to  stand  by  them,  and  you 
shall  not  trample  over  them,  Avith  all  your  toi)heaviuess 

The  Chairman.  I  submit  that  is  not  in  order. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  thank  you ;  I  have  no  right  to  call  anyone  to  order, 
nor  do  I  think  the  committee  as  a  whole  or  anybody  will  accuse  me  of 
any  lack  of  courtesy  to  anybody  personally.  I  represent  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  here.  I  represent  the  Board  of  Mcaraguan 
Canal  Engineers,  ai)pointed  pursuant  to  an  act  of  Congress  and  appointed 
by  the  Executive,  and  the  members  of  the  board  here  have  been  treated 


334  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

ill  every  respect  by  tlie  eoiiiniittec  with  tliat  consideration  niid  courtesy 
witlioutAvliicli  our  duties,  dil'licult  enoujih  in  any  case,  would  have  been 
absolutely  impossible,  and  yet  wehavefroiu  time  to  time  been  put  in  the 
position  as  if  Ave  were  somewhat  in  the  nature  of  recalcitrant  witnesses 
from  whom  the  truth  had  by  some  means  to  be  extracted.  We  repre- 
sent the  Government  of  the  United  States.  Mr.  Doolittle  says  he  is  a 
member  of  this  committee,  and  of  course  he  is.  What  interest  does  he 
represent  here  other  than  the  same  interest*? 

]\Ir.  Doolittle.  And  I  will  tell  j'ou  if  you  desire  to  know,  since  you 
have  asked  the  question,  that  I  represent  the  interests  of  my  constitu- 
ents and  as  an  accredited  llepresentative  in  Congress. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  That  is  quite  true. 

Mv.  Doolittle  And  that  is  the  only  interest  I  represent  here.  If 
you  desire  to  make  any  further  rellections,  of  course  you  are  fully  at 
liberty  to  do  so,  doubtless. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Is  that  part  of  the  public  record"? 

Mr.  Wangek.  I  hoj)e  it  is  not. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  is  a  little  unseemly  and  undignified,  and  I  do 
not  advocate  it. 

JNlr.  W^ ANGER.  I  suggest  we  go  back 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  challenge  in  this  room,  or  out  of  it,  anyone  to 
say  that  in  any  respect  I  have  failed  in  all  due  courtesy  to  everyone 
connected  with  this  matter,  both  in  our  published  report  and  in  all  the 
public  utterances  we  have  made  here.  Such  personalities  as  have  been 
introduced  into  this  discussion  have  been  brought  in  by  others  than 
ourselves.  AVe  have  met  them  on  the  floor  of  this  committee  room,  and 
we  have  taken  means  to  refute  them,  and  I  believe  I  am  justilied  in 
doing  so,  and  that  the  public  will  uphold  us  in  the  doing.  We  do  not 
propose  to  have  the  dignity  and  importance  of  this  matter  discredited 
to  a  mere  altercation. 

I  will  continue,  Mr.  Chairman,  what  I  had  to  say  about  Mr.  Davis 

The  CnAiRMAN.  Proceed. 

Colonel  Ludlow  (continuing).  Because  I  want  to  finish  that  matter 
up.  I  wanted  to  say  in  behalf  of  the  board,  myself  personally,  and  my 
colleagues,  that  we  have  absolute  confidence  in  ]\Ir.  Davis's  cai)acity  and 
integrity  and  we  lind  no  reason  to  doubt  it.  That  he  having  left  the 
service  of  the  company  should  be  prepared  to  place  his  local  knowledge 
of  the  physics  and  conditions  there  at  our  service  was  quite  to  be 
expected.  He  is  an  engineer  and  earns  his  living,  and  among  the  many 
a])plications  with  which  we  were  Hooded  we  selected  those  whom  we 
thought  would  be  the  most  useful  to  us.  Mr.  Davis's  services  down 
there  were  sim]>]y  inestimable.  He  knew  the  country  and  what  to  do 
and  how  to  do  it.  W^e  think  we  sluudd  have  been  almost  helpless  with- 
out him.  He  knew  how  to  take  instructions  and  how  to  fullill  our  pur- 
l)oses,  and  such  information  as  he  had  of  the  country  and  of  nuitters 
connected  with  this  canal  i)rqject  was  entirely  at  our  disposal,  and  so 
far  as  I  know  he  betrayed  no  secret,  if  a  com])any  can  have  secrets. 
He  betrayed  no  secrets  to  my  knowledge  at  alk  His  accex)tance  of 
service  with  u»s  was  in  no  sense  improper. 

Now,  departing  from  that,  we  get  down  to  the  technical  matters. 
Mr.  Miller  introduced  testimony  here  before  this  committee  which  is  of 
the  first  imi)ortance.  I  think  it  is  the  most  inq)ortant  to  the  ]»roject 
that  has  been  made  by  the  gentlemen  representing  that  side.  He  sub- 
mitted here  propositions  from  responsible  men,  contractors  and  others, 
■who  are  jn-epared  to  do  this  work,  and  these  statements  were  submitted 
in  Justification  of  the  statenu'iits  which  have  been  re[)eatedly  made  by 
the  comx)auy  that  those  contractors  stood  by  ready  to  do  this  work.    I 


NICAEAGUA    CANAL.  335 

"wish  we  liad  lind  tliis  inforniatiou  sooner,  but  we  will  investigate  a  little 
and  see  wliat  it  is  and  what  it  means.  1  Lave  only  rough  notes,  if  you 
like,  of  wiiat  Mr.  Miller  said,  and  I  will  have  to  depend  somewhat  uj)ou 
my  recollection.  I  liave  not  had  access  to  his  testimony,  and  I  have 
not  yet  to  my  own,  but  I  will  go  ou  with  the  material  that  I  have  been 
able  to  i)repare  with  the  assistance  of  my  colleagues. 

Mr.  Miller  submitted  a  i)roposition  from  Mr.  Treat  to  construct  the 
western  division  of  this  work  for  $31,000,000,  and  to  guarantee  results 
to  the  extent  of  digging  it  li8  feet  deej)  from  the  Pacific  Ocean  to  uj)  here 
on  the  lake.  There  is  a  distiiict  and  lormal  proposition  of  the  first  order 
of  consideration.  Mr.  Treat  is  a  person  whose  pro]iosition  must  be 
treated  with  consideration.  He  is  a  man  of  repute  and  of  success  in  his 
work,  and  what  he.  proposes  to  do  he  pro])oses  to  do,  knowing  his  own 
responsibility  and  i>repared  to  back  it.  Xow,  what  is  the  nature  of  this 
proposition?  Mr.  Treat's  price  lor  this  whole  canal  on  the  western 
division  is  $31,000,000.  That  is  submitted  as  a  verification  of  the  state- 
ment made  by  the  company  that  contractors  are  prejDared  to  accept  the 
engineer's  prices,  quantities,  and  estimates. 

It  does  not  appear  so,  IMr.  Chairman.  The  moment  you  look  at  these 
figures  you  find,  instead  of  verifying  the  rather  vague  and  somewhat 
uncertain  propositions  of  the  company,  they,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  very 
distinctly  and  clearly  vindicate  and  justify  the  unit  ])rices  and  quan- 
tities adopted  by  the  Board,  and  we  are  the  more  pleased  to  have  it 
because  that  is  absolutely  the  fact.  The  cost  of  the  western  division 
of  the  canal,  according  to  the  company's  estimate  of  1895,  adds  up 
$21,500,000  taking  tlie  low  level  line,  disregarding  the  other,  making 
a  diflerence  in  that  respect;  but,  taking  the  low  level  line,  the  company's 
estimate  for  the  western  division  is  $i!l,500,000,  to  which  20  per  cent  of 
contingencies  is  to  be  added,  making  a  total  esiual  to  about  $25,000,000. 
The  Board's  estimate  for  that  same  work  is  $28,000,000,  to  which  is  to 
be  added  20  per  cent  for  contingencies,  and  you  get  the  result  of 
$32,000,000.  Mr.  Treat's  estimate  is  $31,000,000.  It  is  approximately 
50  per  cent  larger  than  the  estimate  of  the  company,  aiui  it  is  quite 
evident  that  Mr.  Treat's  unit  of  prices  must  have  been  somewhat  larger 
than  those  which  the  Board  adopted  in  its  own  preliminary  estimate. 

But  there  is  another  point  back  of  this  again,  Mr.  Chairman,  which 
still  further  illustrates  the  importance  of  this  proposition.  Mr.  Treat's 
proffer  is  made  on  the  basis  of  quantities  and  prices  of  1890.  No  esti- 
mate of  1895  had  at  that  time  been  made.  Ue  had  put  in  his  hands, 
doubtless,  the  published  report  of  the  company  for  1890,  and  that  was 
his  basis  for  estimating.  ISTow,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  company  has 
varied  very  greatly  this  i)rqject  between  the  dates  of  1890  and  1895, 
and  it  has  like\\  ise  varied  its  prices.  Mr.  Treat  apparently  Avas  led  to 
believe  that  he  was  working  upon  the  latest  project  of  the  company, 
whereas,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  it  had  been  materially  modified,  both  by 
increasing  the  quantities  and  diminishing  the  unit  prices. 

Now,  Mr.  Treat's  proposition  to  build  the  entire  canal  for  $110,000,000 
has  to  be  discussed.  I  need  only  remark  that  in  considering  Mr.  Treat's 
proposition  to  construct  the  entire  canal  for  $100,000,000  this  estimate 
IS  made  generally  upon  the  1890  data,  and  he  says  that  the  borings  on 
the  east  divide  show  solid  rock.  Now,  that  is  a  point  about  which,  per- 
haps, it  is  very  important  to  know.  I  may  state,  first,  that  with  regard 
to  the  east  divide  the  company  had  provided  for  a  cut  of  only  80  feet 
wide  at  that  time.  The  later  proposition  of  1895  is  a  cut  of  100  feet 
wide,  a  very  wise  and  judicious  increase,  but  the  results  of  that  increase 
do  not  show.  Mr.  Treat  is  bidding  upon  a  cut  of  80  feet,  and  not  of 
100  feet.    Furthermore,  he  is  bidding  upon  a  cut  to  be  made  in  solid 


336 


NICARAGUA    CANAL. 


rock,  based,  of  course,  upon  the  coini)imy's  data  and  the  company's 
statement  tliat  that  was  the  material  to  be  handled. 

Now,  I  liap})en  to  have  the  report  made  by  the  geologist  of  the  United 
States  Geological  Survey,  addressed  to  the  second  vice-president  of  the 
company,  dated  June  19, 1891.  Major  Button  had  made  an  investigation 
of  the  geological  conditions  on  the  Isthmus  Avith  a  view  of  ascertain- 
ing or  reporting  to  the  company  whether  or  not  volcanic  or  earthquake 
phenomena  would  imperil  the  construction  of  this  work,  and  as  to  which 
he  was  able  to  report  that,  in  his  judgment,  it  would  hot.  That  judg- 
ment has  been  further  confirmed  by  Professor  Pittier,  of  Costa  Rica, 
who  came  to  the  same  conclusion,  but  Major  Dutton  was  not  satisfied 
with  the  investigation  that  he  was  able  to  make  personally,  and  was 
not  quite  satisfied  as  to  the  real  nature  of  the  samples  of  rock  which 
were  shown  him  as  having  been  taken  from  that  east  divide,  and  he 
therefore  took  means  to  have  the  samples  submitted  to  a  geologist  in 
order  to  have  the  character  more  fully  ascertained  and  examined  under 
the  microscope,  and  Mr.  Iddmgs  reports  as  follows : 

Department  of  the  Interior, 
United  States  Geological  Survey, 

Washington,  D.  C,  June  19,  1891. 
Mr.  George  W.  DA\as, 

Second  Vice-President  Nicaragua  Canal  Construction  Company. 
Dear  Sir:  Your  favor  of  lotli  instaut  received,  the  specimens  of  rock  submitted 
to  me  by  Major  Duttou  have  been  made  into  thin  sections  and  submitted  to  an  exam- 
ination under  the  microscope.  They  prove  all  to  be  volcanic  material,  more  or  less 
unaltered.  Some  are  quite  decomposed  and  soft.  Major  Duttou  wished  to  know 
Avhether  they  would  turn  out  to  be  massive  blocks  when  excavated,  or  would  form 
•iood-sized  blocks.  Of  the  eleven  cores  examined  live  are  of  compact,  hard  rock  and 
six  of  decomposed  and  rather  soft  material.  The  accompauying  memorandum  gives 
the  localities  and  name  on  profile,  with  the  correct  name  ajipended. 

In  tlie  interest  of  science  I  should  be  glad  to  examine  a  more  extended  collection 
of  cores  from  different  parts  and  dejiths  of  the  proposed  cutting,  if  accompanied  by 
proper  labels  as  to  their  locality,  more  especially  from  the  deeper  borings  where  the 
rocks  are  fresher. 

Yours,  very  truly,  Joseph  P.  Iddings,  Geologist. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Appended  is  a  schedule  which  gives  the  character- 
istics of  the  rocks  as  determined  by  the  geologist;  and  you  will  observe 
out  of  eleven  samples  received  five  are  hard  rock  and  six  were  decom- 
posed and  of  rather  soft  material : 


Label. 


Name. 


EAST  DIVIDE. 


Boring  at  station  960-1-50,  from  depth  of  159  to  160  feet  5  inches 

(called  confilonicrate). 
Boring  at  station  895+40,  strata  31  feet  thiulc  (called  talc) 


Boring  at  station  905-|-30,  from  depth  of  70  to  80  feet  (called 

tra))  and  conglomerate). 
Boring  at  station  913  +  50,  from  outcrop  to  depth  of  32  feet 

6  inches  (cMlh'd  talc). 
Boring  at  station  '.133+35,  from  depth  of  44  to  84  I'cet  (called 

talc  and  dcconiiniscd  rock). 
Boring  at  station  941  +  80,  from  dei)tli  of  38  to  86  feet  (called 

talc). 
Boring  at  stathm  941+80,  from  depth  of  86  to  222  feet  (called 

conglomerate). 
Boring  at  station  960+50,  from  depth  of  75  to  100  feet  (called 

slate). 

WEST  DIVIDE. 

Boring  No.  4  at  station  243+32,  from  depth  of  8  feet  to  72  feet 

6  inches  (called  conglomerate). 
Boring  (J  at  station  306+«8,  from  depth  of  2  to  38  feet  (called 

telpetate). 
Boring  1  at  station  370,  from  depth  of  54  feet  6  inches  to  63 

feet  (called  slate  on  profile). 


Basalt;  Compact  and  hard  (like  trap). 

Ande.site  (pyroxene) :  Partly  decom- 
posed, soft  and  friable. 

Audesite  (pyroxene) :  Partly  altered, 
compact,  moderately  hard. 

Dacite :  With  many  grains  of  quartz ; 
compact,  hard  rock. 

Dacite  (altered) :  With  grains  of 
quartz ;  rat  lier  soft  rock. 

Dacite :  Decomposed  and  soft. 

Dacite:  Compact,  rather  hard. 
Basaltic  ash :  Soft,  crumbling. 


Andesitic  ash :  Hardened,  compact 
and  hard. 

Andesitic  a.sh:  Altered,  soft,  crumb- 
ling. 

Andesitic  ash:  Altered,  soft,  crumb- 
ling. 


2v! GTE. —Dacite  is  much  like  quartz-porphyry.    Audesite  is  one  of  the  commonest  Iclnda  of  volcanig 
rocks  in  the  Jlocky  Mountains. 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  337 

Colonel  Ludlow.  The  board  bad  reason  to  believe,  from  an  examina- 
tion of  the  borings,  that  there  was  a  good  deal  of  material  there  which 
might  involve  very  serious  question  when  it  came  to  opening  that  deep 
cut  through  the  rock,  and  the  board  believed  it  was  of  vital  importance 
that  numerous  borings  should  be  made tlirough  that  material,  not  only  on 
the  axis  of  the  canal,  but  also  adjacent  to  it  and  in  the  neighboring  sides 
of  it,  in  order  to  determine  what  would  be  the  probable  sloi)e  at  which 
it  would  stand.  These  questions  are  of  the  first  importance.  These 
contractors'  propositions  are  based  simply  upon  the  comi)any's  data 
without  investigation. 

I  want  to  explain  to  the  committee,  if  you  please,  the  additions  which 
have  been  made  to  this  project,  and  what  will  be  the  consequent  eflFect 
upon  Mr.  Treat's  proposition  if  he  had  made  up  his  figures  on  that 
basis.    The  amendment  needed  would  be  approximately  as  follows : 

treat's  proposition  for  eastern   division,  at  lump  sum  of  $31,000,000,  TO  PASS 

28-FOOT  SHIP. 

This  proposition  is  avowedly  made  on  the  basis  of  the  project  of  1890.  The 
company's  estimate  for  this  project,  excluding  right-of-way  indemnity  and  the  Tipi- 
Tapa  Canal,  is  $17,150,417;  to  which  should  be  added  a  contingency  allowance  of 
$4,287,604,  making  a  total  of  $21,438,021.  Mr.  Treat's  lump-sum  proposition  is  about 
$10,000,000  more,  or  about  45  per  cent  increase. 

The  company's  project  for  1895  calls  for  greatly  increased  quantities,  which,  if 
carried  out  at  the  1890  prices,  would  amount  to  $25,072,272.  Applying  the  same  rate 
of  increase  to  this  amount,  as  applied  by  Mr.  Treat  to  the  amount  of  the  estimate  of 
1890,  viz,  45  per  cent,  the  total  would  be  $36,354,794,  contingencies  included.  The 
estimate  of  the  board  for  the  same  work,  with  the  contingencies  included,  is 
$35,233,466,  to  which  a  small  addition  should  be  made  for  lights  and  buoys,  making  the 
total,  however,  less  than  that  obtained  by  applying  Mr.  Treat's  figures  in  the  man- 
ner above  noted.  It  is  very  clear,  therefore,  that  Mr.  Treat  and  the  board  must  be 
assuming  very  nearly  the  same  unit  price.  This  would  be  expected,  because  the 
board  adopted  the  unit  price  shown  in  the  company's  estimate  of  1890,  except  the 
price  for  concrete,  which  the  board  increased  considerably.  On  the  other  hand,  Mr. 
Treat,  while  ostensibly  using  the  same  unit  price,  made  numerous  conditions,  which 
practically  amounted  to  an  increase  in  unit  prices. 

The  correspondence  is  not,  however,  quite  as  close  as  above  indicated,  because  the 
board  found  it  necessary  to  increase  the  quantities  at  Brito  Harbor  and  at  the  locks, 
and  to  provide  back  filling  and  other  items  for  the  locks  which  the  company  had 
omitted,  or  had  made  insufficient  estimates  for,  so  that  the  unit  prices  adopted  by 
the  board  must  have  been  less  than  those  used  by  Mr.  Treat  in  arriving  at  his  total 
of  $31,000,000,  for  which  he  used  the  quantities  furnished  him  by  the  company  in 
their  estimate  of  1890. 

Referring  to  Mr.  Treat's  proposition  to  build  the  entire  canal  for  the  lump  sum  of 
$100,000,000,  it  must  be  remembered  that  this  applies  tn  the  project  and  to  the  quan- 
tities of  1890.     It  would  need  amendment  to  apply  at  the  present  time. 

First.  On  account  of  the  additions  made  to  quantities  in  the  company's  revised 
project  of  1895.  This  amounts,  at  the  schedule  of  prices  of  1890,  which  Mr.  Treat 
undoubtedly  refers  to,  to  $14,100,000.  If  this  were  added  to  the  amount  of  Mr. 
Treat's  proposal,  it  would  be  $114,100,000. 

Second.  Further  additions  should  be  made  to  cover  the  errors  in  the  company's 
calculations  of  amounts  of  excavation  in  the  San  Juan  River  and  Lake  Nicaragua, 
which,  at  the  company's  schedule  of  1890,  amount  to  $7,150,000.  These  additions 
would  make  Mr.  Treat's  proposal  $121,250,000. 

Third.  If  further  allowance  were  made  for  a  complete  estimate  for  locks  80  feet  in 
width,  with  the  necessary  back  filling,  concrete  foundations,  etc.,  for  the  increased 
height  of  embankments  in  the  San  Francisco  Basin,  and  for  an  additional  amount  of 
excavation  in  the  San  Juan  River  and  Lake  Nicaragua  to  make  channels  of  the  width 
deemed  necessary  by  the  board,  the  total  amount  would  be  considerably  in  excess 
of  the  board's  estimate.  So  that  Mr.  Treat's  figures,  instead  of  confirming  the  pres- 
ent estimate  of  the  company,  confirm,  in  fact,  the  estimate  of  the  board. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Kow,  with  reference  to  Mr.  McDonald's  proposi- 
tion, who  made  a  bid  for  the  construction  of  this  canal  for  $70,000,000. 
I  have  not  the  figures  before  me,  and  they  are  subject  to  correction,  but 
I  believe  it  is  $70,000,000. 
NO 22 


338  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

This  is  also  based  uiiou  the  company's  quantities  of  1890,  wliicli  Lave  been  largely 
increased  in  tlic^  project  of  18!)5,  and  require  still  further  increase  to  constitute  an 
adL'(iu;itc  i)rqject,  in  the  opinion  of  tlio  board.  His  unit  ])rice8  are,  in  most  cases, 
hiylier  than  those  of  the  board;  notably,  tlie  price  of  $1.N0  ])er  cubic  yard  for  rock 
excavation,  $2.40  lor  earth  under  water  (understood  to  apply  to  lock  exca.vation), 
and  $10  per  cubic  yard  for  concrete.  If  these  prices  were  a2)}>liod  to  the  board's  (juan- 
tities  the  total  would  exceed,  it  is  believed,  the  board's  estiuuite.  Air.  McDonald's 
price  for  earth  excavation— 50  cents  per  cubic  yard — is  a  little  less  than  that  adopted 
by  the  board,  but  if  the  price  of  $2.40  per  cubic  yard  apjdies  to  lock  excavation, 
then  Mr.  McDonald's  average  price  for  earth  excavation  is  undoubtedly  larger  than 
that  of  the  board.  Uut,  as  a  whole,  the  ligures  confirm  in  a  remarkable  way  the 
board's  unit  prices. 

It  appears  from  the  above  that  the  propositions  read  by  Mr.  Miller  confirm  the 
correctness  of  the  board's  unit  i)rices,  and  that  if  there  is  any  material  difference, 
the  board's  prices  are  lower.  It  must  be  remembered  that  the  lump-sum  bids  are  on 
the  basis  of  the  company's  estimates  or  quantities  in  their  report  of  18'J0,  that  they 
liave  themselves  since  largely  increased  the  quantities,  and  that  a  further  increase 
is  still  necessary. 

Now,  as  to  Mr.  Bower's  i)roi)Ositiou  for  dredging.  His  proposition, 
of  course,  is  on  the  basis  of  1890  data. 

bower's   rROPOSAL  FOK  DREDGING. 

Bower's  hydraulic  dredge  is  a  pump  dredge,  and  its  use  would  be  impracticable  in 
stifi'  clay,  heavy  gravel,  and  bowlders.  In  the  canal  section  near  Greytown  it  Avould 
be  necessary  to  remove  the  surface  stumps,  logs,  etc.,  with  some  otlier  jdant  before 
employing  this. 

Miller  states  that  the  actual  cost  of  dredging  at  the  Panama  Canal  was  from  40  to 
60  cents  per  cubic  yard,  and  was  half  profit.  If  wo  take  the  net  cost  at  20  to  30 
cents,  and  add  20  ^er  cent  for  profit,  the  figures  will  agree  fairly  w  ell  with  those 
of  the  board. 

The  company's  quantities  of  1895,  at  the  prices  of  1890,  would  make  a  total  of 
$78,000,000. 

The  board's  quantities,  at  the  company's  schedule  of  1890,  would  amount  to 
$117,000,000. 

[Bennett  noted  a  variation  in  the  river  at  Ochoa  of  14  feet  4  inches  in  the  first 
three  months  of  1888.  This  is  pertinent  in  view  of  what  Miller  said  about  the  filling 
up,  or  backing  up,  or  foot  of  rapids.] 

With  further  reference  to  one  or  two  points  in  Mv.  Miller's  testimony, 
it  is  characteristic  that  whenever  further  consideration  is  given  to  the 
company's  project  it  has  an  aptitude  for  varying.  Mr.  Miller  put  in 
two  new  propositions  in  the  comi)any's  project  in  his  last  statement.  He 
stated,  first,  tliat  the  weirs  in  the  Ochoa  Dam  were  "of  course"  to  be 
movable  weirs.  Well,  the  board  has  contended  in  its  report  that  unless 
movable  weirs  were  used,  or  sluices,  or  the  equivalent  of  them,  it  wouhl 
be  impossil)le  to  restrain  the  excessive  rise  of  the  lake  in  the  wet  season 
or  to  hold  up  the  lake  to  its  proposed  summit  level  during  the  dry  sea- 
son; but,  if  you  please,  the  canal  project  not  at  any  time  or  in  any  way 
or  in  any  place,  so  far  as  Ave  are  aware,  and  we  have  gone  pretty  thor- 
oughly into  the  subject,  has  ever  suggested  that  the  weirs  to  be  used 
on  the  top  of  the  Ochoa  Dam,  or  the  weirs  to  be  used  in  the  Wan  Carlos 
ridge,  which  is  practically  a  continuation  and  an  essential  feature  ot 
that  dam,  or  any  other  weirs  through  which  or  by  which,  directly  or 
indirectly,  the  discliarge  of  the  surplus  water  was  to  be  provided  lor, 
were  to  be  movable  weirs.  There  is  not  the  first  hint  or  suggestion  to 
that  effect,  and  jve  are  pleased  to  see  a  corroboration  of  our  own  opin- 
ion in  that  respect  by  IMr.  Miller's  expression  of  belief  that  some  such 
provision  will  be  required.  And  there  I  might  say  en  passant  if  that 
be  done  it  will  require  a  very  considerable  increase  of  the  company's 
estimate  of  cost  for  that  work. 

The  estimate  is  based  upon  an  absolutely  fixed  weir  without  anything 
moveable  in  it,  and  the  construction  of  these  moveable  weirs  of  the 
dimensions  which  will  be  required  in  such  case  will  amouut  to  a  formi- 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  339 

dable  sum  of  money.  The  other  novel  proposition  of  Mr.  Miller,  novel 
in  the  literature  of  the  comiiany,  was  that  before  anything  should  be 
done  really,  notwithstanding  the  acceptance  and  completion  and  per- 
fection of  this  project,  betbre  anything  should  be  done,  a  board  of  con- 
sulting engineers  should  sit  on  the  matter  and  thattlioy  should  be  paid 
large  salaries,  and  that  their  judgment  with  regard  to  technical  nuitters 
of  this  kind  would  unquestionably  be  followed  by  the  company. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Let  me  interrupt  you  and  ask  if  anything  was  said 
in  Mr.  Miller's  statement  about  large  salaries  being  paid? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  If  I  am  not  extremely  mistaken,  there  was  some- 
thing said. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  I  think  the  notes  will  show  he  did  not  say  anything 
with  regard  to  salaries  whatever,  and  when  he  spoke  of  the  employ- 
ment of  consulting  engineers  it  was  relative  to  those  very  important 
places  which  have  been  dwelt  on  by  the  board  at  Ochoa,  and  also  over 
on  the  Brito  side  of  the  lake. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  think  Mr.  Miller's  own  notes  will  show,  and  I  do 
not  pretend  to  any  more  than  ordinary  accuracy  of  recollection  of 
things,  but  I  listened  to  Mr.  INIiller's  testimony  with  great  interest 
naturally,  and  I  am  quite  satisfied  he  made  some  such  remarks. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  However,  I  do  not  think  that  is  a  matter  of  consid- 
erable importance. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Then  why  not  let  it  go  without  interruption  1 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  Well,  1  thought  it  was  of  sufficient  importance,  of 
course,  to  call  your  attention  to  my  understanding  of  the  fact  that  he 
did  not  mention  salaries. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  The  stenographer's  notes  will  show.  I  think,  Mr. 
Chairman,  if  it  would  not  be  too  much  trouble  for  the  stenographer,  he 
might  settle  the  matter  at  once. 

The  Chairman.  It  would  take  time  to  do  that. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Very  well.  I  have  no  disposition  to  take  up  the 
time  of  the  committee.  It  is  only  this  point  that  I  want  to  make — the 
question  of  salaries  is  nothing — that  a  board  of  consulting  engineers, 
if  you  please,  have  had  this  project  under  consideration,  and  within 
the  last  year.  It  was  true  that  those  enguieers  were  not  appointed  by 
the  company  and  did  not  receive  their  instructions  from  the  company. 
They  were  appointed  by  the  Government  of  the  United  States  and 
received  their  instructions  from  the  Congress  of  the  United  States. 
That  fact  probably  does  not  deprive  the  consideration  of  this  subject 
by  that  board  of  weight,  nor  does  it  constitute  any  imputation  against 
the  thoroughness  of  their  consideration  or  value  of  their  conclusions. 
It  seems  that  for  some  reason  the  comi^any,  notwithstanding  its  ex- 
pressed willingness  to  accept  the  suggestions  from  a  board  of  engineers 
of  that  character,  distinctly  repudiates  them  and  objects  seriously  to 
the  board  having  made  them.  It  may  be  if  we  had  been  content  or 
had  had  no  objection  to  accei^t  just  such  data  as  the  company  should 
furnish  that  we  should  have  found  ourselves  in  the  same  predicament 
as  the  Bogart  board,  which,  as  I  quoted  the  other  day,  stated  as  a 
formal  part  of  its  report  that  the  locks  proposed  by  the  company  as 
shown  by  the  borings  were  founded  on  rock.  The  company  does  not 
make  that  contention  to-day,  and  no  examination  of  the  borings  can 
have  any  other  effect  than  to  refute  it. 

It  might  be  interesting  to  inquire  what  borings  these  were  which 
were  submitted  to  this  Bogart  board  in  New  York  and  ujwn  which  they 
make  the  statement  that  the  borings  submitted  to  them  showed  the 
locks  to  be  founded  on  rock.    As  to  this  project,  it  is  fair  to  say,  Mr, 


340  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

Chairman,  with  all  the  various  clian^es  and  protean  aspects  it  has 
assumed  from  time  to  time,  I  think  in  view  of  the  liglit  tliat  lias  been 
thrown  upon  the  matter  here  the  committee  can  perhaps  understand 
the  extreme  dil'liculty  of  our  task  of  last  year  in  trying"  to  ascertain 
definitely  what  it  was  the  company  proposed  to  do  and  how  they  pro- 
posed to  do  it.  I  think  the  committee  will  appreciate  the  difliculty  of 
our  task  and  perhaps  later,  when  they  do  us  the  honor  of  examining 
our  report,  they  will  give  us  due  credit,  also,  for  the  temperateness  and 
the  seriousness  with  wliich  we  sought  to  consider  the  subject,  to  con- 
sider all  these  questions  in  all  their  bearings  and  aspects,  and  with  an 
entirely  favorable  ojiinion  and  intention  with  regard  to  the  construction 
of  a  canal  across  that  isthmus  to  get  the  thing  in  such  shape  that  we 
could  report  it  as  feasible  and  lix  some  probable  sum  within  which  it 
could  be  completed. 

We  had  to  take  the  project  which  they  had  and  modify  it  and  correct 
it.  We  had  laboriously  to  ascertain  from  other  sources  than  the  com- 
pany what  might  be  the  facts  really  of  the  case.  We  ascertained  much 
for  ourselves  and  we  got  more  from  others,  and  using  all  the  informa- 
tion that  we  got  from  every  quarter  we  made  such  modifications  in  the 
project,  such  increases,  and  such  additions  to  the  unit  i^rices  and  quan- 
tities and  such  changes  of  the  structure  and  methods  of  construction 
as  we  thought  to  be  judicious,  and  we  finally  succeeded  in  getting  it 
into  such  shape  that  we  were  prepared  to  report  it  was  a  feasible  proj- 
ect and  we  believed  it  could  be  done  within  a  certain  sum  of  money. 

The  Chairman.  Right  there  let  me  ask  you.  State  what  expression 
was  made  by  the  board  at  the  time  of  leaving  Nicaragua,  or  about  that 
time,  to  theeflect  that  this  project  was  not  a  feasible  one  and  the  canal 
could  not  be  built. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Well,  sir,  I  think  quite  likely 

The  Chairman.  If  some  conclusion  of  that  kind  was  arrived  at, 
please  state  it. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Well,  an  opinion;  hardly  a  judgment.  You  see  it 
was  this  way,  Mv.  Chairman.  We  had  read  and  assiduously  studied 
this  canal  literature.  We  had  in  our  hands  the  report  of  the  chief 
engineer  of  181)0.  We  had  his  still  more  important  paper,  formally  pre- 
pared for  the  World's  Columbian  Engineering  Congress  of  1893.  We 
had  other  statements,  and  there  is  a  statement  here  which  I  desire  to 
incorporate  as  a  portion  of  the  material,  and  I  shall  read  from  the 
executive  document  of  the  Fifty-first  Congress,  second  session,  which 
is  a  report  of  the  JNIaritime  Canal  Company  to  the  Secretary  of  the 
Interior,  the  accuracy  of  which  is  attested  under  oath  by  the  president 
and  secretary  of  the  company.  This  material  naturally  must  receive 
consideration.     We  find — 

That  the  final  ])lans  and  tbc  detail  surveys  of  the  canal  and  its  harbors,  locks,  and 
other  accessory  works  have  lieen  coniphited  and  verified,  and  no  etlorts  have  been 
spared  in  perfcctinuj  the  route  from  ocean  to  ocean. 

That  is  the  statement.  We  find  the  statement  in  the  report  of  189(1 
that  every  problem  had  been  solved. 

That  the  surveyiuji:  parties  of  the  conii)any  had  <;;athered  such  a  mass  of  valuable 
infbrination  as  to  Icavt;  no  doubt  whatever  renardiiij^  its  sn])eriority  and  the  amount 
and  cliaracter  of  all  the  work  iinolved  in  the  construction  of  the  canal.  No  i)robleni 
has  been  left  unsolved,  and  what  is  now  presented  as  the  result  of  these  arduous 
labors  is  an  actual  re])resentatiou  of  the  actual  conditions. 

This  is  the  report  of  1890. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Of  whom? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Of  the  chief  engineer  of  the  company,  sir.    That 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  341 

is  onr  text-book  with  wliicli  we  went  down,  and  we  readied  the  country 
studyin,ii  it  attentively.  We  took  the  chief  engineer's  formal  statement 
before  the  engineering-  congress,  expressly  prepared  for  the  information 
of  the  world,  as  to  the  real  nature  and  essence  of  this  ijroject.  No  one 
could  believe  when  the  paper  was  prepared  that  it  could  be  anything 
else,  at  any  rate  up  to  that  date  at  least,  than  the  convictions  of  the 
writer  as  to  the  verity  of  everything  in  it,  and  without  going  into  any 
details  of  statements,  one  of  which  was  brought  up  yesterday  as  to  the 
state  of  Ochoa  Dam,  we  found  statements  like  this : 

It  'was  orijijinully  planned  that  some  sections  of  the  canal  in  earth  should  he  80  feet 
in  bottom  width,  with  side  slopes  of  lA  to  1,  and  in  the  rock  cuts  with  vertical  sides. 
This  would  accommodate  the  traffic  for  several  years;  and  then  the  areas  in  cross 
section  could  be  increased  out  of  the  earnings,  as  at  Suez,  but  at  a  greater  ultimate 
cost. 

Following  that  is  this  statement: 

It  has  been  decided  to  make  provision  in  the  designs  for  the  ultimate  require- 
ments ;  and  the  following  table  shows  the  length  of  the  dilferent  sections  of  the  canal 
in  excaA'ation  in  the  lake,  the  river  San  Juan,  and  through  the  basins,  and  also  the 
dimensions  of  the  prism  for  the  same  as  now  proposed. 

Then  follows  a  schedule  very  much  increasing  the  section  in  many 
res]>ects  of  the  report  of  1890.  For  examx)le,  the  least  width  at  any 
point  or  the  narrowest  point  is  100  feef  through  the  divide  cuts,  and 
the  next  narrowest  is  120  feet,  and  so  to  the  river  with  125  feet,  and  to 
the  lake  with  150  feet.  We  had  this  information  before  us,  and  we  had 
not  the  least  doubt  in  the  world  it  was  all  right,  and  arriving  in  Nica- 
ragua we  were  confronted  with  a  condition  of  affairs  which  w^as  quite 
other  than  that  which  we  had  believed  existed.  We  came  to  look  into 
things,  and  we  foun:l  there  were  many  i>roblems  of  the  first  magnitude 
which  had  not  been  solved,  and  for  which  no  means  whatever  had  been 
prepared  for  solving.  Hydraulic  data  were  lacking  and  borings  were 
insufticient;  foundations  had  not  been  explored.  We  found  Lock  No. 
3  had  been  moved  between  1890  and  1895  to  a  new  site  aiul  the  site  has 
never  been  bored.  We  found  mud  bottoms  in  the  San  Francisco  Basin 
where  these  great  dams  go  that  had  never  been  .>ored  and  their  depth 
was  not  known.  We  found  the  San  Juan  liiver  had  never  been  surveyed 
so  far  as  to  asceitain  what  was  the  real  nature  of  the  material  to  be 
taken  out,  and  so  on. 

I  admit  that  when  we  returned  from  this  investigation  and  fomul  the 
company  declaring  tliat  the  lake  Avouldvary  4  or  5  feet  and  the  river  to 
correspond,  that  no  Hoods  were  to  be  apprehended,  v.iien  we  ourselves 
could  read  on  the  banks  of  the  river  as  we  went  along  and  at  i)oints 
where  we  stopped  and  made  levels  to  determine  that  the  actual  rise  and 
fall  might  be  as  much  as  12  or  11  feet,  and  at  one  point  as  much  as  20 
feet,  I  must  say  that  we  were  disconcerted  with  the  situation,  and  we 
found  it  at  variance  with  the  situation  as  it  had  l>een  presented  to  us 
in  the  former  luiblications  of  the  company.  It  might  Avell  be  on  return- 
ing to  Greytown  that  we  should  feel  discouraged.  I  know  I  did.  Fur- 
thermore, we  found  that  the  entrance  to  Greytown  Harbor,  whether  by 
virtue  of  careless  engineering  or  by  virtue  of  adherence  to  the  terms 
of  the  concession,  v/hich  shoukl  strictly  limit  the  location  within  which 
the  entrance  should  be  constructed,  we  found,  as  we  believed,  a  con- 
struction of  that  entrance  at  that  point  would  be  i^ractically  imi)ossible. 
It  was  extremely  injudicious  to  undertake  it. 

We  found  over  at  Brito  Harbor  the  investigation  there  had  been 
entirely  inadequate  and  nothing  like  a  full  determination  of  the  work 
to  be  done  in  the  construction  of  the  harbor  at  that  point,  a  most  for- 


342  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

ini(lal)le  point,  as  inucli  so,  perhaps,  as  in  all  the  history  of  our  American 
eii.uiiuH'riiiii'  we  liave  ever  seriously  attempted  building  a  harbor.  It  is 
a  level  shore,  and  the  Pacifie  comes  in  with  a  surf  that  in  the  calmest 
weather  is  from  -f  to  10  feet  high.  What  will  be  the  situation  when  you 
have  one  of  the  westerly  storms  or  a  southwesterly  storm  we  could  not 
realize;  but  we  did  realize  that  the  endeavor  to  make  a  harbor  at  that 
point  in  conflict  with  what  might  be  the  natural  forces  was  something 
that  should  not  be  liglitly  entered  ui)ou,  and  we  did  not  in  the  least 
believe  that  the  proposition  of  the  comi)any  was  in  any  sense  adequate. 

We  Were  discouraged  when  we  got  back  to  Greytown,  Mr.  Chairman, 
and  we  sought  means  to  refresh  ourselves.  We  looked  at  other  points, 
and  secured  encouragement  from  the  work  done  at  Costa  Kica  and  from 
the  work  done  at  Panama,  and  we  did  derive  encouragement  from  that, 
and  we  still  had  conlidence  that,  after  all,  when  we  got  back  to  New 
York  and  had  a  chance  to  explore  the  great  mass  of  the  company's  data 
which  had  accnmulated  there  for  many  years  we  should  be  able  to  feel 
that  in  some  way,  even  if  not  from  memory  and  from  conversation,  we 
would  be  able  to  get  the  information  we  wanted,  and  we  spent  the  three 
months  of  the  summer  in  exploring  that  question  from  every  possible 
point  of  view.  Well,  after  a  while  we  got  a  more  encouraging  view  of 
it,  that  is  true,  but  I  can  only  say  now  as  to  what  our  view  was  in 
Greytown.  If  we  said  anything  on  the  subject  we  could  have  said  then 
the  ]>roject  of  the  company  as  a  project  was  not  feasible,  nor  will  any 
one  declare  it  is. 

The  i)roiect  of  1890,  wiiich  was  then  the  project  of  the  company,  it  is 
admitted  is  not  feasil)le  by  the  improvements  and  necessary  altera- 
tions that  the  company  itself  has  since  made  in  it.  The  ])roject  of 
1805  w^as  not  formulated  until  we  requested  that  it  be  done,  in  view  of 
the  changes  which  had  been  suggested  and  indicated  and  the  neces- 
sary additions  or  alterations  of  the  estimate  which  must  ensue.  The 
one  thing  we  found  absolutely  fixed  was  the  total  cost  of  the  canal 
across  the  Isthmus ;  and  while  every  feature  of  it  might  vary — the  route 
and  the  construction,  whether  a  masonry  dam  or  a  rock  fill  dam, 
whether  weirs,  sluices,  or  locks,  of  different  width — there  was  one  thing 
only  that  was  fixed.  We  found  the  locks  varied.  In  1890  we  find 
them  70  feet;  in  1S93,  according  to  the  chief  engineer,  they  were  80 
feet.  We  went  back  and  found  that  the  price  for  a  lock  80  feet  wide 
was  absolutely  the  same  as  one  70  feet  wide.  These  locks  varied  so 
often  that  you  would  have  to  go  to  a  rubber  manufactory  to  get  them 
built,  and  other  things  had  an  equally  elastic  tendency;  and  you  your- 
selves, gentlemen,  have  seen  the  facility  with  w^hich  the  Ochoa  Dam  can 
be  varied  in  its  dimensions  and  cost.  We  w^ere  ])uzzled  with  a  dam 
which  in  1890  cost  $720,000  and  in  1895  cost  $970,000,  and  you  saw 
yourselves  yesterday  from  the  testimony  of  the  chief  engineer  how 
the  price  may  vary  with  great  rapidity  from  $1,000,000  to  $3,000,000 
and  not  leave  a  clear  impression  upon  the  mind  of  the  hearer  as  to 
what  figure  was  fixed  as  the  view  of  the  company  of  the  cost  of  that 
most  vital  piece  of  work. 

The  CiiMRMAN.  Was  there  any  expression  of  the  board  that  the 
general  Nicaragua  Canal  route  was  im])racticable? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  No;  I  judge  not.  I  do  not  think  any  of  us  felt 
that.  I  can  only  speak  for  myself,  but  I  do  not  think  any  of  us  felt 
that.  I  know  I  did  not.  When  a  man  asked  me,  i  rather  jestingly 
told  him,  "If  you  wait  ten  years  you  will  see  ships  going  by  here."  He 
endeavored  to  consult  me  i)roressionally.  He  had  a  holding  there  and 
he  wanted  to  know  whether  to  sell  or  to  keep  it.     Now,  these  estimates  I 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  343 

will  simply  read  off,  and  it  will  not  take  two  minutes,  and  yet  tliey  are 
very  instructive.  In  1873  the  estimate  of  the  Lull  Expedition  was 
$05,750,000.  In  1885  Mr.  IVIenocal's  estimate  was  $04,000,000.  In  the 
company's  estimate  of  1890  it  is  $05,000,000,  and  in  the  comi^any's 
estimate  of  1895,  according-  to  their  cheapest  plan  of  the  Tola  Dam,  it 
is  $00,750,000.  The  average  price  of  that  is  $(J5,000,000,  and  the  largest 
departure  from  it  is  under  a  million,  the  projects  themselves  varying 
very  widely  indeed.  In  1885  it  was  to  be  a  masonry  dam  at  Ochoa  on 
arches  on  a  sand  foundation,  and  I  have  seen  the  proposed  method  of 
constructing  the  masonry  dam  with  arches  in  the  re^iort  of  the  chief 
engineer,  stating  that  the  foundations  were  to  be  put  20  feet  below  the 
surface  of  the  water,  and  the  water  in  one  corner  of  the  river  was  10 
feet  deep.  That  would  have  left  for  a  masonry  dam  a  foundation  of 
only  4  feet  in  sand  and  with  a  river  to  be  raised  00  feet  high. 

As  to  what  would  happen  to  the  dam  holding  water  up  under  these 
conditions,  we  did  not  care  to  investigate.  That  dam  was  dropped  in 
the  report  of  1890,  and  a  rock-tilled  dam  was  the  project;  with  water 
running  over  it.  Of  course,  these  changes  year  by  year  or  season  by 
season  involve  large  changes  of  quantities,  and  how  is  it  that  with  all 
these  changes  of  quantities  there  is  no  change  in  the  total,  or  next  to 
none?  It  is  brought  about  by  the  extremely  simple  method  that  if  you 
have  25  per  cent  or  50  per  cent  more  work  to  do  and  will  simply  slice 
off  the  unit  iirice  sufficiently,  you  will  have  the  same  total  cost  you 
had  before,  and  it  is  quite  evident  by  a  continuation  of  that  process 
you  can  get  down  to  a  sea-level  canal  across  that  isthmus  at  the  same 
cost  if  you  simply  go  on  and  make  a  reduction  of  the  unit  prices  to 
meet  the  increase  of  quantities. 

Well,  I  happen  to  have  here  one  of  the  appendixes  of  the  report, 
which  is  a  small  matter,  perhaps,  if  you  like,  but  it  is  significant.  It  is 
a  summary  of  the  water-gauge  readings  that  in  the  course  of  the  com- 
pany's investigations  were  made  there,  and  we  found  at  Camp  Carazo, 
San  Francisco  Island,  a  short  distance  below  the  Ochoa  Dam,  there  were 
watermarks  taken  which  indicated  a  range  of  12.85  feet  at  that  point, 
and  at  Ochoa  Dam,  the  very  point  in  question,  there  is  a  record  of 
14.4  feet,  and  the  observations  were  made  by  Mr.  Bennett,  of  the  com- 
pany. Mr.  Bennett  is  a  very  excellent  and,  in  his  way,  capable  and 
thoroughly  honest  fellow.  He  was  with  us  all  through  in  charge  of 
the  drawings  and  we  got  very  much  information  from  him.  It  was 
from  him,  if  I  am  not  very  much  in  error,  we  got  the  information  that 
just  before  the  close  of  work  down  there  the  company  had  commenced 
a  new  line  of  levels  from  Greytown  to  Ochoa  for  the  purpose  of  deter- 
mining a  discreiiancy  or  uncertainty  of  1  foot  in.  the  recorded  levels  as 
they  existed  in  the  company's  compilation.  The  chief  engineer  said 
yesterday  he  did  not  know  of  that,  but  if  not,  who  ordered  the  resur- 
veying? 

I  think  I  want  to  refer  to  one  other  matter — there  are  many  others, 
but  I  do  not  wish  to  delay  the  committee,  and  it  is  impossible  to  treat 
them  all.  This  question  of  the  Suez  Canal  and  its  dimensions  has  been 
referred  to,  and  the  Suez  Canal  is  the  only  work  in  the  world  with  which 
this  canal  is  properly  comparable.  They  are  both  strictly  interoceanic. 
The  Manchester  Canal,  a  very  great  work,  is  merely  an  inland  connec- 
tion of  ^hinchester  with  the  sea.  The  Kiel  Canal,  the  German  canal, 
is  only  a  connection  of  two  of  those  shallow  oceans  and  is  intended  for 
the  use  of  such  vessels  as  navigate  those  seas,  not  of  very  great  dimen- 
sions, mostly  for  the  passing  of  the  German  navy  from  one  side  to 
another,  and  the  German  naval  ships  in  their  construction  and  dimen- 


344  NICARAGUA   CANAL. 

sioiis  are  also  adapted  to  tlie  seas  they  navigate — the  Baltic  and  the 
German  Ocean. 

Mr.  Bennett.  Is  the  summit  level  of  the  Suez  Canal  the  summit 
level  of  the  Mediterranean? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  is  sea  level  right  through  from  the  Mediterra- 
nean to  the  Eed  Sea.  There  is  no  gate  or  locR  in  it.  The  Mediterranean 
tide  is  about  the  same  as  the  Caribbean  tide — about  a  foot — not  great. 
Tlie  Ked  Sea  tide  varies  somewhat;  it  is  a  closed  sea  and  subject 
largely  to  the  inliuences  of  the  winds. 

Mr.  Bennett.  Is  the  Kiel  Canal  a  sea-level  canal? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  is  a  lock  canal,  but  it  is  a  sea-level  canal  in  one 
sense;  and  they  introduced  locks  for  the  reason  the  Baltic  has  no  tide, 
whereas  the  German  ocean,  into  which  the  other  end  debouches  near 
the  mouth  of  the  Elbe,  has  a  considerable  tide — as  much  as  9  feet — so, 
being  a  short  canal,  if  they  left  it  entirely  open  without  gates  and  locks 
there  would  be  danger  at  times  of  a  tremendous  current  pouring  through 
it,  owing  to  the  uniformity  of  the  level  of  the  Baltic  and  the  greater 
variations  at  the  Elbe  end.  I  may  say  in  that  connection  that  if  this 
Nicaragua  Canal  is  to  be  compared  with  any  sea  canal,  it  is  absolutely 
necessary  to  nail  fast  in  some  way  that  oscillating  and  elusive  summit 
level,  for  if  that  summit  level  is  permitted  to  oscillate  the  canal  will 
cease  to  be  comparable  with  any  other  work  of  that  character  in  the 
world  that  is  either  built  or  contemplated.  These  other  canals  all  have 
a  regimen,  they  have  a  summit  level  which  is  maintained  within  in  a 
measurement  of  inches.  The  statements  and  suggestions  of  the  dimen- 
sions of  the  Suez  Canal  in  all  the  company's  literature  are  incorrect, 
and  I  may  say  the  same  of  the  statement  made  by  the  chief  engineer 
with  regard  to  it  yesterday. 

Mr.  Bennett.  Is  the  level  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean  at  Isthmus  the 
same  as  the  level  of  the  Pacific  Ocean? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Just  the  same.    That  is  inevitable,  it  must  be  so. 

Mr.  Bennett.  That  is  what  I  imagined,  but  I  understood  it  was  some- 
what different. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  is  a  very  interesting  fact,  if  you  please,  not  to 
detain  the  committee,  that  whenever  there  has  been  any  attempt  to 
connect  two  seas  there  is  always  that  question  raised  of  a  tremendous 
difference  between  the  level  of  one  sea  and  the  other,  and  it  is  curious 
it  should  have  been  so.  We  used  to  be  told  that  there  was  a  difference 
iu  level  of  7,  8,  or  9  feet  between  the  Atlantic  and  the  Pacific.  Inas- 
much as  they  are  free  oceans  they  must  be  the  same  level.  Gravity 
wouhl  bring  that  about  necessarily.  And  it  must  be  the  same  with  any 
other.  It  is  the  same  with  the  Eed  and  the  Mediterranean  seas,  because 
they  had  a  connection  outside  the  continents  and  variations  will  only 
be  local. 

In  the  nature  of  things,  the  mean  level  must  be  the  same  the  world 
over.  Gravity  arranges  that.  Yet  Napoleon's  engineer,  when  he  was 
ordered  by  Bonaparte  during  the  occupation  of  Egypt  to  investigate 
that  problem  of  the  Suez  Canal,  made  the  decided  error  of  determining 
there  was  a  difference  of  25  feet,  and  the  same  error  had  been  made 
long  before  by  the  Greeks.  The  same  accusation  was  made  against  the 
small  but  astonishingly  interesting  canal,  the  Corinth,  which  is  quite 
important,  and  it  had  that  same  history  that  there  Avas  great  objection 
to  cutting  that  little  neck  of  land  off  because  j)eople  living  on  the  one 
side  feared  the  sea  was  going  to  pour  through  and  wash  them  out,  and 
yet  they  are  only  about  280  or  oOO  miles  apart,  measured  around  the 
isthmus.    The  original  design  of  the  Suez  Canal  was  with  a  bottom 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  345 

width  of  40  meters,  about  125  feet,  and  to  be  8  meters  deep,  if  I  am  not 
mistaken,  altliousili  the  information  is  a  little  ol)S('ure  on  that  point,  and 
the  original  final  estimate  of  the  Suez  Canal  was  based  on  a  cost  of 
$40,000,000,  or  200,000,000  francs.  They  reduced  the  dimensions  after- 
wards in  order  to  get  it  completed,  and  finall}^,  at  a  cost  of  $110,000,000 
(550,000,000  francs),  they  succeeded  in  constructing  it  as  it  was  opened 
for  use  with  a  bottom  width  of  72  feet,  and,  in  oider  to  enable  vessels  to 
pass,  sidings  or  excavations  were  cut  in  the  banks  where  one  vessel 
would  enter  while  tlie  other  would  pass. 

They  found  that  condition  of  things  incompatible  with  due  facilities 
for  transit,  owing  to  the  increase  in  the  number  of  vessels  passing- 
through,  so  that  the  widening  was  begun,  and  has  now  been  nearly 
completed,  except  for  9  or  lO-ufiles,  so  that  tlie  Suez  has  a  width  of  37 
meters  on  the  bottom,  or  121  feet,  and  the  least  depth  of  the  Suez  Canal 
which  it  has  been  found  advantageous  to  leave  at  all  is  8i  meters,  or 
27.1  feet,  and  for  the  greater  part  of  the  length  of  the  canal  it  is  9 
meters,  or  29  feet  G  inches,  say,  in  round  numbers.  The  average  time  of 
transit  is  twenty  hours,  and  the  average  nund)er  of  vessels  is  about  ten 
a  day.  Now,  all  but  about  9  or  10  miles  of  the  canal  has  been  widened 
to  the  width  of  121  feet  on  the  bottom,  and  a  formal  ])lan  has  been 
drafted  and  submitted  to  the  canal  administration  in  Paris,  and  has 
been  apju^oved  by  them,  although  not  yet  ordered,  because  they  are  not 
prepared  to  go  on,  increasing  the  bottom  width  of  the  canal  in  the 
straight  portions  to  66  meters,  or  210  or  215  feet,  and  on  the  carves  to  SO 
meters  in  width. 

The  reason  for  that  is  simply  this,  that  notwithstanding-  a  bottom 
M'idth  of  120  feet,  the  vessels  are  not  permitted  to  pass  each  other  in 
the  canal  at  speed.  Their  speed  is  limited  to  10  kilometers,  or  about  6 
miles,  an  hour,  and  they  are  not  permitted  to  pass  under  way,  notwith- 
standing- this  increased  dimension  of  120  feet.  When  two  vessels  meet, 
one  or  the  other,  according  to  an  arl)itrary  arrangement,  goes  to  the 
bank  and  the  other  goes  by,  and  this  increased  widening-  there  is 
believed  by  the  company  to  be  necessary  to  permit  vessels  to  pass  each 
other  freely  and  without  any  delay  at  all. 

I  had  some  other  notes  here,  JVIr.  Chairman,  but  I  think  there  are 
only  one  or  two  other  points  I  care  to  refer  to.  I  juade  the  statement 
on  the  authority  of  Mr.  Davis  that  certain  portions  of  the  canal  route, 
or  an  important  part,  IMr.  jMenocal  had  not  seen,  and  I  believed  it  to 
be  true,  and  yesterday  Mr.  IMenocal  made  a  statenu'nt  with  regard  to 
it,  but  he  omitted  to  say,  however,  whether  or  not  that  is  true,  or 
whether  or  not  there  is  still  a  portion  of  that  caiuil  line — either  the  axis 
of  the  canal  or  of  the  embankment  line,  whicli,  wherever  there  is  an 
embankment  is  more  important  than  the  canal  line — that  since  its  final 
adoption  he  has  not  inspected.  If  he  cares  to  answer  that  question 
categorically,  I  wdl  be  glad  for  him  to  make  a  reply  to  it.  I  wo  aid  also 
be  incidentally  glad  to  know  categorically  whether  or  not  he  has  ever 
himself  personally  gone  over  the  line  of  the  San  Carlos  ridge,  Avhich, 
you  understand,  is  practically  a  continuation  of  this  Ochoa  Dam  here 
10  or  12  miles,  where  waste  weirs  and  sluices  are  to  be  built,  and  the  con- 
structions are  important.  We  went  over  that  route  ourselves  on  foot, 
but  I  have  an  impression  that  Mr.  Menocal  has  not. 

I  want  to  say,  Mr.  Chairman,  we  have  had  a  most  formidable  task 
here.  We  supposed  our  relation  to  all  this  matter  was  closed  with  the 
rendition  of  our  report,  and  we  suddenly  found  ourselves  challenged 
and  attacked  on  the  lioor  of  this  committee  room  before  the  public,  in 
the  newspapers,  and  everywhere  with  imputations  upon  our  conduct, 


346  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

discretion,  and  cai)acity,  and  intended  for  no  other  piirjiose  than  to 
inv^alidate  onr  conclusions  as  expressed  in  our  report.  You  will  under- 
stand the  ditliculty  of  meeting  suddenly  and  unexpectedly  an  issue  of 
that  kind  in  an  enterprise  of  this  magnitude  and  invested  with  most 
formidable  asj^ects.  Great  interests  are  arrayed  on  one  side  and  the 
other,  and  great  personages,  you  might  almost  say,  have  been  taking 
active  part  in  it,  and  if  tliere  has  been  anything  that  is  lacking  in  our 
jn-esentation  of  the  matter  by  myself  and  my  colleagues  I  beg  you  to 
believe  we  have  at  least  done  our  best  and  given  the  committee  such 
infiufmation  as  we  had,  and  endeavored  to  tell  you  clearly  what  we 
believed  to  be  true,  ami,  with  such  j)roof  as  we  had  to  present,  that  it 
was  true. 

On  behalf  of  myself  and  my  colleagues  I  have  to  thank  the  commit- 
tee for  the  continuing  courtesy  and  consideration,  without  which,  in  so 
diflicult  a  matter  as  oral  testimony  on  a  project  of  this  magnitude,  and 
with  so  many  details  in  it  of  quantities  and  figures,  that  task  would 
have  been  simply  impossible,  and  I  beg  in  behalf  of  the  Board  to  tender 
our  thanks  to  the  committee  for  their  consideration  in  that  regard. 

The  Chairman.  There  is  a  question  I  want  to  ask  you  in  regard  to 
the  summit  level  of  the  lake.  Suppose  the  company  adopts  110  feet  as 
that  level,  and  that  the  whole  canal  structure  is  constructed  with  that 
fact  in  view.  Suppose  that  the  mean  height  of  the  water  of  the  lake  is 
110  feet? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  The  mean  level? 

The  Chairman.  Now,  what  will  be  the  effect  upon  the  structure  if 
there  should  be  a  variation  of,  say,  18  inches,  or  2  feet  or  3  feet  below 
that  mean  heiglif? 

Mr.  Patterson.  Or  above  if? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Any  reduction  from  the  summit  level,  whether  it 
be  fixed  or  varying  or  stated  as  a  mean,  any  reduction  in  depth  below 
that  summit  level,  as  depths  are  measured,  would  of  necessity  to  exactly 
the  same  amount  reduce  the  depth  of  navigation. 

The  Chairman.  Then,  on  the  supposition  the  canal  project  is  con- 
structed upon  the  basis  of  28  feet  of  water  relative  to  110  feet  as  the 
mean  lieight  of  the  surface  of  the  lake,  if  there  should  be  a  reduction 
of  o  feet  in  the  level  of  the  lake,  namely,  to  107  feet,  the  capacity  of  the 
canal  would  only  be  adapted  to  a  25-foot  vessel;  would  that  be  the 
result'? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  With  a  reduction  of  2  feet? 

The  Chairman.  Of  3  feet. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Oh,  no,  sir. 

The  Chairman.  If  it  falls  to  107  feet  in  the  lake,  and  being  con- 
structed with  a  view  to  28  feet  on  a  basis  of  110-foot  level"? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  With  a  channel  of  28-foot  depth  the  deepest  vessel 
you  would  be  likely  to  get  through  that  channel  would  be  not  over 
about  2G  feet.  In  the  Suez  Canal,  with  a  soft  bottom,  they  are  not  per- 
mitted to  draw  within  2  feet  3  inches  of  the  depth;  she  mUwSt  unload  if 
she  draws  more  than  that. 

Mr.  Patterson.  That  is  not  the  qnestion.  What  the  Chairman,  as 
I  understand,  wants  to  get  at  is  this,  that  whatever  the  reduction 
shows  in  the  summit  level  that  there  is  a  corresponding  reduction  in 
the  canal  elsewhere? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Of  course,  because  yonr  allowance  underneath  the 
keel  of  the  vessel  is  a  fixed  quantity,  and,  therefore,  whatever  reduction 
you  make  in  the  summit  hivel  that  much  is  cut  off  the  draft  of  a  vessel 
you  jiermit  to  go  through. 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  347 

Mr.  Corliss.  Would  a  reduction  of  the  siiinmit  level  of  tlie  lake 
affect  to  the  same  extent  the  canal  its  entire  len<>th"? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Well,  the  lake  and  the  river. 

The  Chaikman.  It  would  affect  every  part  above  tlie  Ochoa  Dam? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  They  are  all  part  of  the  summit  level.  It  runs 
through  the  east  divide  on  one  side,  and  through  the  west  divide  on 
the  otTier. 

Mr.  Patterson,  I  understood  you  in  your  remarks  to-tlay  to  say  it 
was  absolutely  necessary  to  maintain  the  sunnnit  level.  Now,  I  did  not 
exactly  gather  your  meaning  there.  Do  you  mean  to  say  that  if  the 
canal  is  liS  feet  deep,  in  order  to  float  a  vessel  drawing  20  feet  it  must 
retain  the  28-foot  depth,  and  any  reduction  in  the  summit  level  would 
affect  the  navigation  of  a  ship  drawing  2(5  feet  of  water? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Crowd  out  all  those  ships. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Now,  is  that  your  meaning,  or  is  there  some  other 
reason? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  No;  it  is  a  commercial  meaning  in  that  respect, 
just  a  mere  matter  of  building  some  kind  of  a  waterway  there.  The 
variation  would  not  amount  to  anything  if  you  did  not  care  anything 
about  your  depth. 

Mr.  Patterson.  So  if  there  was  a  summit  level  of  110  feet  and  a 
depth  of  40  feet  in  the  canal  the  summit  level  might  go  down  5  or  10  feet 
and  not  atfect  the  navigation? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  No;  because  you  still  have  water  enough  to  float 
your  ship. 

Mr.  Patterson.  I  understand  it. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  If  it  is  going  to  be  a  2S-foot  navigation,  it  must  be  such 
at  all  times  and  all  seasons,  so  as  to  permit  a  20-foot  ship  to  go  through. 
If  we  had  a  30-foot  navigation,  then  at  all  times  and  all  seasons  the 
arrangement  should  be  so  a  28-foot  vessel  could  go  through,  or  else  you 
destroy  the  integrity  of  the  navigation. 

Mr.  Patterson.  When  you  say  the  integrity  of  the  summit  level 
must  be  maintained 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  must  be  maintained  at  least  at  a  minimum. 
The  idea  of  our  supposing  it  nuTst  be  maintained  like  a  cast-iron  sur- 
face, at  the  same  height,  going  neither  above  nor  below,  is,  of  course,  out 
of  the  (luestion.  We  have  to  assume  that  the  minimum  summit  level 
must  be  maintained,  or  otherwise  the  28-foot  navigation  would  cease  to 
be  there,  and  that  is  a  matter  of  how  much  that  lake  is  going  to 
oscillate. 

Mr.  Patterson.  There  is  one  other  point 

The  Chairman.  Before  you  leave  this  point.  The  Ochoa  Dam  is 
designed  with  a  view  of  maintaining  a  110-foot  sumndt  level? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  In  the  lake. 

The  Chairman.  Now,  suppose  that  to  be  the  mean,  what  reason  have 
you  to  believe  that  there  will  be  a  niininuim  below  that,  and  what  is 
the  extent  of  that  minimum,  if  tliere  is  any? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Well,  sir,  that  is  just  one  of  the  problems  we  did 
not  have  the  means  of  solving,  and  it  is  absolutely  vit.al  to  the  project. 
The  range  and  oscillation  of  the  lake  have  never  been  observed  by  any- 
body. All  the  evidence  we  could  get  on  that  subject  simply  indicates 
that  sometimes  the  lake  was  so,  and  sometimes  it  was  so,  and  sometimes 
it  was  so.  We  measured  everywhere  we  could  get  a  watermark,  or  an 
indication,  at  the  Granada  wharf  and  at  the  San  Jorge  wharf. 

Mr.  Bennett.  What  was  the  greatest  variation? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  found  reason  to  believe  the  lake  has  varied  as 


348  NICARAGUA.    CANAL. 

mucli  as  14  feet,  measuring  from  the  lowest  point  we  could  hear  of  up  to 
the  highest  point  we  could  hear  of,  reliably. 

The  Chairman.  When  you  speak  of  110  feet  being  the  summit  level 
there,  at  what  season  do  you  understand  that  was  ascertained?  In  the 
flood  season  or  in  the  dry  season"? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  If  you  please,  the  summit  level  is  to  be  adopted  as 
a  datnm;  it  does  not  exist  as  a  natural  phenomenon  at  all.  The  lake  at 
what  is  mean  average  low  level  in  ordinary  conditions  i)erhaps  is  at 
about  102  or  so. 

Mr.  Corliss.  That  is  under  natural  conditions? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Under  natural  conditions,  just  as  you  will  find  it, 
and  it  is  quite  in  a  state  of  nature.  There  is  no  artificial  constrnction 
there  of  any  kind.  If  you  establish  the  summit  level  at  110  you  will 
have  to  dam  the  water  until  it  will  never  fall  below  110,  it  becomes  an 
artificial  surface,  or  at  least  a  surface  artificially  maintained,  and  in  its 
natural  condition  it  ranges  below  that  and  undoubtedly  has  ranged 
above  it.  The  idea  whicli  I  have  had  in  the  matter  is  this:  When  the 
Oclioa  Dam  was  constructed 

Mr.  Patterson.  It  would  be  constructed  with  a  view  of  maintaining 
the  summit  level  at  110  feet? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  is  so  stated,  definitely  and  distinctly,  in  the 
company's  reports. 

Mr.  Patterson.  ]^ow,  if  the  lake  should  rise  14  feet,  or  any  number 
of  feet,  why,  this  sur])lus,  which  raises  the  level  of  the  lake  above  tliat 
mean  level  established  by  the  dam,  would  find  an  escape  through  these 
weirs  and  over  that  ridge  and  into  the  Atlantic? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  That  is  70  miles  away. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Whereas  it  could  not  fall  below  the  110  feet  after- 
wards, because  the  dam  fixes  and  establishes  it  at  110? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  You  can  not  do  it.  The  dam  itself,  according  to 
the  company,  is  only  105  feet.  The  dam  is  to  be  built  to  10(5  feet,  and, 
according  to  the  comi^any's  project,  is  to  be  used  as  a  weir.  In  otlier 
words,  water  is  to  pour  over  it,  and  the  sill  of  the  weir  is  established  by 
the  company's  project  at  105  feet. 

Mr,  Patterson.  That  means  a  mean  level  of  105  feet? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  That  means  the  point  at  which  the  water  escapes 
over  the  Oclioa  Dam  is  at  a  level  of  105  feet,  and  it  is  assuuied  by  that 
arrangement  in  connection  with  other  arrangements  it  will  maintain  the 
water  level  in  the  vicinity  of  Ochoa  Da^m  at  100  feet.  In  other  words, 
between  the  sill  of  the  weirs  and  the  surface  of  the  water  there  will  be 
a  depth  of  1  foot  of  water  always  pouring  over  it,  and  that  arrange- 
ment will  lead  to  a  fixed  slope  of  4  feet  upward,  and  that  arrangement 
will  hold  the  lake  at  110  feet.     Of  course,  we  found  that  incredible. 

TheCiiAiRMAN.  Suppose  that  condition  toexist — that  the  actual  slope 
of  the  river  as  created  by  this  dam  would  be  4  feet.  Now,  then,  sup- 
pose that  the  lake  rises  14  feet  above  that  and  that  the  slope  of  the  river 
is  increased  from  4  feet  to  18  feet;  what  effect  would  that  accelerated 
current  have  upon  the  navigation  of  the  river  by  boats  upward? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  If  such  a  condition  could  exist,  Mr.  Chairman,  it 
would  be  quite  impossible  to  get  a  boat  up  this  slope. 

The  Chairman.  Could  that  condition  exist? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  do  not  believe  it  could,  because  this  variation  we 
observed  of  14  feet  of  course  is  obtained  by  comparing  what  was  at  one 
time  the  highest  and  at  some  other  time  the  lowest. 

The  Chairman.  But  if  by  correction  through  the  Ochoa  Dam  you 
make  the  minimum  110  of  the  level  of  the  lake,  then  the  fluctuation  must 
be  upward? 


NICARAGUA   CANAL.  349 

Colonel  Ludlow.  The  fluctuation  will  be  from  tliat  level  up,  and  it  is 
a  question  of  what  it  will  anionnt  to.  It  will  not  amount  to  as  much  as 
we  found  iu  the  natural  condition  because  the  river  will  have  a  larger 
channel  and  a  much  greater  area  to  discharge  through  and  will  com- 
mence doing  so  sooner,  and  there  will  be  no  longer  14  feet;  but  say  it  be 
4  feet  or  5  feet,  we  do  not  know,  we  have  not  the  means  of  ascertaining 
that.     It  might  be  G  feet. 

The  Chaieman.  Suppose  it  could  be  so,  what  would  be  the  probable 
increase  in  velocity  if  you  double  the  slope  of  the  river  from  4  to  8  feet; 
Avhat  would  be  the  corresponding  increase  in  the  velocity? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  may  be  four  times  or  more,  dependent  somewhat 
upon  the  banks  and  other  conditions.  It  makes  a  very  complicated 
thing  to  work  out. 

Mr.  Joy.  AVhat  was  the  level  of  the  lake  when  you  were  there;  did 
you  determine  that? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes;  we  noted  that^  and  it  is  in  the  report.  It 
was  101.8,  Mr.  Endicott  reminds  me. 

Mr.  Bennett.  Using  the  Ochoa  Dam  as  a  weir  for  every  foot  of  that 
minimum,  there  must  be  1  foot  more  dredging  done  on  the  river? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Absolutely;  if  you  desire  a  deeper  stream  in  order 
to  maintain  navigation  you  will  have  to  deepen  it. 

Mr.  Bennett.  Has  any  j)rovision  been  made  for  overflow  into  the 
Pacific  from  the  lake? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  No;  none  whatever. 

Mr.  Bennett.  Could  such  a  provision  be  made? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes;  but  it  is  not  wise  to  use  a  canal  for  drainage. 
You  do  not  want  any  current  in  a  canal  if  you  can  help  it.  You  have 
a  narrow  cut  to  go  thruugh  rock,  and  any  current  increases  the  difficulty 
in  getting  through. 

Mr.  Bennett.  It  would  be  much  less  distance  from  the  lake  to  the 
Pacific  Ocean? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes;  you  could  get  rid  of  it  more  quickly  there, 
but  if  you  undertake  to  do  that  you  would  have  to  make  some  si)ecial 
provision  for  it.  It  would  not  in  the  wide  world  do  to  pass  it  through 
the  canal.  There  is  danger  in  a  narrow  rock  cut,  aiid  they  are  only  100 
feet  wide,  the  cross  section  being  only  3,000  s(]uare  feet,  and  if  you 
undertake  to  take  any  great  body  of  water  through  that  cut  you  will 
have  such  a  current  you  will  not  be  able  to  use  it  for  ships.  Now,  in 
direct  connection  with  Mr.  Bennett's  statement.  It  is  quite  likely  in 
these  long,  narrow  channels,  100  feet  wide  and  30  feet  deep,  it  will  not 
be  found  practicable  to  move  a  large  vessel  faster  than  about  3  miles  an 
hour.  Suppose  you  have  a  current  of  3  miles  an  hour  in  there,  and  you 
undertake  to  take  a  vessel  against  it;  of  course  she  is  stationary,  and 
that  ends  it.  I  merely  use  that  as  an  illustration  of  the  difliculty  of 
undertaking  to  make  a  mere  draiuage  of  a  canal. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Mr.  Slenocal  stated  on  yesterday  that  in  the  borings 
at  Ochoa  Dam  they  went  at  least  to  the  depth  of  about  2S  feet,  or 
whatever  it  was,  and  that  the  borings  showed  that  the  bottom  was 
sand  and  that  they  had  not  gone  sufiicieutly  tar  to  tind  a  rock  bottom? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  No,  the  borings  ended  in  sand. 

Mv.  Patterson.  He  stated  they  might  find  rock  below  that,  but  they 
had  not  found  it.  Now,  suppose  that  this  dam  is  constructed  on  sand 
in  the  bottom  of  that  river.  Is  that  such  a  foundation  as  would  make 
that  dam  unreliable  and  untrustworthy  for  holding  such  a  large  volume 
of  water? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Well,  sir,  it  is  well  known  iu  engineering  matters 


350  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

that  a  sand  fouiulation  is  an  extremely  undesirable  thing  to  liave  to  deal 
with.  It  has  been  dealt  \Yith,  and  successfully,  but  by  special  i)ro vision 
for  doing  it.  You  can  have  worse  than  that — you  can  have  soft  mud,  if 
you  like.  Sand  has  a  certain  kind  of  solidity.  In  its  essence  it  is  hard 
and  compact,  and  sand,  if  confined  so  as  not  to  escape — if  it  could  be 
cased  up  or  boxed — then  sand  to  build  on  is  nuich  better.  It  is  quite 
incompressible,  but  the  action  upon  loose  sand  by  anything  like  a  thread 
or  current  of  water  is  a  very  dangerous  thing  to  introduce.  The  sand 
will  flow  with  the  water,  and  if  the  sand  be  small  enough  it  will  go 
through  small  interstices;  so  a  sand  base  for  a  dam  is  extremely  unde- 
sirable if  you  can  tind  any  other. 

The  l)arrage  that  crosses  the  Nile  below  Cairo  is  built  in  the  Nile 
delta  and  rests  ns  a  matter  of  fact  npon  sand  and  mud  which  compose 
the  bottom  of  the  river  at  that  point,  but  extraordinary  precautions 
were  taken  and  the  French  engineers  failed  in  making  the  work  a  suc- 
cessful one.  It  was  a  very  formidable  task,  and  they  presently  aban- 
doned it,  and  it  was  later  taken  up  and  finally  completed  and  put  in  its 
present  perfected  form  by  English  engineers.  It  is  masonry  work 
which  practically  is  almost  without  a  foundation.  They  made  a  very 
extensive  riprai)ping  of  stone  to  cover  the  bottom.  There  is  no  exces- 
sive current,  because  the  dam  itself  intercei)ts  that. 

The  height  to  which  the  water  is  raised  by  the  use  of  this  dam,  which 
was  put  in  in  order  to  provide  for  the  irrigation  of  a  large  portion  of  the 
delta,  is  only,  if  I  remember,  a  matter  of  about  9  or  10  feet,  so  that  the 
head  of  water  was  not  formidable;  but  here  is  a  head  of  00,  80,  or  90 
feet,  and  what  are  you  going  to  do  under  those  circumstances?  If  you 
can  find  rock  there,  even  at  oO  feet,  it  Avotdd  be  a  great  encouragement 
to  an  engineer  who  had  to  design  a  dam  at  that  point.  If,  however,  as 
we  are  infbrmed  in  this  case,  you  have  nothing  to  do  but  to  build  it 
on  the  saml,  why  you  must  build  on  the  sand  or  go  without  your  dam; 
and  if  that  dam'must  be  built,  why  build  it  or  let  the  project  go. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Do  you  think  it  is  practicable  to  do  that  on  the 
sand? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  think  it  is  practicable,  sir;  but  you  observe  that 
the  defects  of  th'^,  foundation  in  that  case  can  oidy  be  amended,  as  it 
were;  your  conditi(ms  can  not  be  nltered,  and  you  have  to  make  up  for 
the  deficiency  in  your  foundation  by  a  necessary  increase  in  the  magni- 
tude and  weight  of  your  structure.     Theie  is  no  other  way. 

INIr.  DoouiTTLE.  A  (jucstion  just  at  that  point  before  you  go  to  a  new 
line  of  tliought.  You  believe  with  the  proper  material  and  time  you 
can  construct  a  dam  there  that  would  hold  the  water  all  right"? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  finally  came  to  the  conclusion  it  would  be 
practicable,  although  it  has  never  been  done.  The  work  is  without 
precedent  in  engineering  construction. 

Mr.  Patteuson.  You  spoke  of  the  harbor  at  P>rito.  Now,  just  judg- 
ing from  the  nuq)  which  stretches  across  the  room  here,  it  seems  the  shore 
line  there  is  tolerably  straight.  Now,  what  is  the  method  of  construc- 
tion of  that  harbor?  Y'^ousay  the  surf  there  often  on  calm  days  rises 
from  4  to  10  feet,  and  in  a  storm  I  suppose  the  ocean  there  is  very  vio- 
lent and  deep? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  deepen  soft"  rapidly,  the  shorede(^iens  off  rapidly. 

Mr.  Patterson.  What  is  the  idea  of  constructing  the  harbor  there 
atBrito? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  low  to  do  it? 

]Mr.  Patterson.  How  do  they  propose  to  protect  the  ships  there 
against  the  gales  in  that  locality? 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  351 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Well,  in  a  very  imperfect  way.  That  map  there, 
however,  is  not  designed  as  an  engineering  map. 

Mr.  Patterson.  Well,  jnst  explain  it  as  well  as  you  can. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Off  liere,  observe,  is  a  little  red  block  [illustrating] 
on  the  left-hand  side.  Here  is  a  little,  rocky  promontory  extending  out 
into  the  racitic  Just  here  f illustrating].  The  harbor  is  to  be  made  here, 
underneath  that  promontory  and  in  connection  with  it.  That  extends 
out,  maybe,  a  quarter  of  a  mile  into  the  sea,  a  couple  of  hundred  feet 
high,  and  the  company  proposes,  properly,  to  make  a  breakwater  which 
shall  extend  from  the  end  of  tliat  i^romontory  crosswise  so  as  partly  to 
intercept  the  seas  coming  ashore.  Then,  to  prevent  the  seas  fi-om  roll- 
ing in  at  tlie  side,  an  offshore  work  in  the  nature  of  a  jetty  is  projected 
out,  something  like  that  [illustrating],  so  that  you  have  a  little  promon- 
tory sticking  out  into  the  Pacific,  and  then  you  have  a  line  of  break- 
waters coming  so,  leaving  between  the  end  of  it  here  and  the  jetty  an 
opening  through  which  vessels  shall  go. 

Mr.  Patterson.  JsTow,  there  is  a  large  body  of  red  marked  on  the 
map? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  That  red  thing  is  intended  in  a  vague,  rough,  and 
general  way  to  indicate  an  interior  harbor  which  would  then  be  exca- 
vated out  of  the  line  of  the  canal.  That  harbor  will  be  dug  or 
dredged  out. 

Mr.  Patterson.  What  kind  of  a  country  is  that?  Ls  that  a  low, 
flat  country"? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  No;  there  is  that  promontory  which  projects,  and 
other  ridges  come  down.     It  has  an  altitude  of  150  or  200  feet. 

Mr.  Patterson.  And  the  harbor  lies  between  the  ridges? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  The  harbor  lies  between  this  little  promontory  and 
another  promontory  which  comes  off"  here  [illustrating].  There  is  one 
here  and  one  here.  Both  come  down  to  the  shore  and  one  x)rojects  a 
little,  and  there  is  a  bit  of  straight,  sandy  beach  between  those  two.  This 
river,  the  Rio  Grande,  comes  in  here  [illustrating].  Here  the  waves 
come  tumbling  in,  making  this  great  surf  which  strikes  on  the  beach. 
The  entrance  is  to  be  made  here  and  the  real  harbor  then  is  to  be  exca- 
vated out  of  the  land.  The  water  deepens  there  very  rapidly.  You 
are  in  10  fathoms  very  soon.  In  a  mile  and  a  half  you  have  gone  to  26 
or  27  fathoms,  and  in  another  mile  you  have  gained  another  10  fathoms. 
On  the  Atlantic  coast  our  depths  run  about  a  fathom  to  the  mile,  and 
in  this  case  within  2J  miles  we  have  30  fathoms,  or  some  such  matter, 
on  the  Pacific.  That  is  the  reason  these  fearful  swells  come  in,  as  there 
is  no  shallow  water  to  diminish  the  roll. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  I  would  like  to  ask  about  what  investigation,  if 
any,  you  have  made  as  to  the  draft  of  ships  at  present  building  and 
sailing  on  the  Pacific  and  whether  or  not  you  have  found  the  tendency 
to  be  to  lessen  the  draft  of  vessels,  modern-built  shi])S,  and  increase 
the  beam  ? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Well,  I  can  not  say;  we  made  very  little  investi- 
gation into  that.  It  was  a  matter  which  rather  affected  the  commercial 
statistics  of  the  canal  than  an  engineering  point  of  view.  As  I  remem- 
ber, we  took  the  general  dimensions  of  large  vessels,  but  we  used  them 
regarding  the  lock,  length  and  width  of  the  canal  as  quite  sufficient, 
and  we  thought  if  the  lock  were  wide  enough  to  admit  the  United 
States  war  vessels  it  would  answer  all  requirements.  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  the  tendency  in  the  construction  of  shipbuilding  is  an  increase  in 
all  respects. 

Mr.  Doolittle.  Not  in  depth? 


352  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

Colonel  LiTDLOW.  In  leuA'tb,  width,  and  depth.  It  is  found  the  larger 
vessels  are  more  economical  carriers  than  small  ones. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  But  I  say,  are  not  shipbuilders  everywhere  in  the 
construction  of  the  ships  now  using  a  flatter  floor,  a  flat  bottom'? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Less  dead  rise,  that  is  true,  but  without  diminish- 
ing the  draft. 

JMr.  DooLiTTLE.  Do  you  know  what  is  the  average  draft  now  of  a 
•4,()00-ton  cargo  steamer,  an  English-built  vessel? 

Colonel  LuDUOW.  I  do  not  remember,  but  I  should  think  it  would 
range  from  19  to  -5  feet. 

Mr.  DOOLITTLE.  I  think  it  ranges  from  19  to  22  feet. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Well,  your  information  on  that  point  is  perhaps 
better  than  mine. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  I  mean,  of  course,  laden  down  to  the  marks. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  were  quite  content  in  that  respect  to  follow 
the  project  of  the  company  and  accept  their  depth  of  28  and  30  feet. 

INlr.  DOOLITTLE.  I  could  tell  you  of  2  or  3  lines  of  some  16  to  18  vessels 
to  the  line,  like  the  Glenogle  Line  and  similar  lines,  where  the  draft  is 
not  to  exceed  23  feet. 

Colonel  Ludlow,  I  saw  a  vessel  drawing  19  feet  6  inches  in  the  Suez 
make  heavy  weather  of  it,  although  there  are  28  feet  of  water  in  the 
Suez. 

jMr.  Corliss.  I  would  like  to  ask  one  question  before  you  conclude. 
In  making  the  plans  of  the  board,  if  1  understand  correctly,  you  pro- 
posed to  maintain  a  level  of  110  feet  at  the  lake,  and  to  maintain  at  all 
times  a  depth  in  the  canal  of  30  feet? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  accepted  the  company's  data  in  that  respect. 

Mr.  Corliss.  You  misunderstand  me.  In  perfecting  your  plan,  in 
making  the  extensions  you  deemed  necessary,  did  not  you  figure  upon 
a  basis  of  a  mean  level  of  the  lake  of  110  feet  and  the  depth  in  the 
canal  of  30  feet? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Yes 

Mr.  Corliss.  That  is  Avhat  I  understand. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  And  we  followed  that,  believing  it  was  judicious 
because  the  company  announced  its  intention  of  regarding  that  as  a 
final  project,  and  we  had  the  authority  of  the  chief  engineer  in  his 
paper  there  in  which,  with  some  exceptions,  30  feet  is  carried  through. 

Mr.  Corliss.  But  in  view  of  the  developments  of  wider  vessels  and 
deeper-draft  vessels  you  made  these  recommendations,  deeming  it  neces- 
sary if  the  project  was  to  be  undertaken? 

Colonel  LiTDLOW.  We  thought  so.  That  was  our  judgment.  And  in 
view  of  the  Suez  Canal  data  we  took  the  trouble  to  ascertain  last  sum- 
mer when  we  found  they  had  made  that  very  considerable  deepening; 
we  did  it,  not  because  we  believed  it  was  extravagant,  but  because  we 
believed  it  desirable. 

Mr.  Joy.  I  want  to  ask  a  question  which  I  forgot  to  ask  yesterday. 
You  say  the  summit  level  of  the  lake  was  101  and  a  fraction  when  you 
were  there? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  There  is  no  summit  level. 

Mr.  Joy.  Well,  the  level  of  the  lake. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  One  hundred  and  one  and  eight-tenths  it  was 
when  we  were  there. 

Mr.  Joy.  Where  did  you  obtain  your  information  as  to  the  point 
below  that  at  which  the  summit  of  the  lake  had  been  found— from  what 
source  did  you  get  your  information? 


NICARAGUA   CANAL.  353 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  will  read  from  the  report  what  we  i)ut  iu  in 
regard  to  that: 

Mr.  Joy.  I  noticed  the  statement,  but  I  did  not  know  whether  it 
gave  the  source.  Was  your  information  derived  from  individuals  or 
from  a  variety  of  things?  Of  course  you  could  not  see  the  water  marks 
below  the  level  of  the  lake. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  That  comes  under  the  general  head  of  summit 
level.  At  the  time  of  the  gauging  at  Fort  San  Carlos,  where  the  river 
leaves  the  lake  and  where  we  were  detained  two  days,  we  tried  to  make 
good  use  of  our  time,  and  we  made  two  gaugings  there  and  investi- 
gated the  lake  bottom  and  also  the  Eio  Frio,  which  comes  in  there  and 
might  interfere  with  the  work.     We  say  in  our  report: 

In  tlie  report  of  1890  the  discbarge  from  Lake  Nicaragua  at  its  lowest  stage  is  said 
to  be  11,390  cubic  feet  per  second,  and  Colonel  Childs  is  quoted  as  authority  for  an 
estimate  of  high-water  discharge  of  18,059  cubic  feet  per  second.  With  these  data 
a  calculation  is  made,  using  the  numerical  mean  of  the  two  results  to  show  that 
there  will  be  a  much  larger  water  supply  than  required  for  canal  purposes.  Both  the 
data  and  the  method  employed  iu  this  calculation  are  incorrect. 

In  Appendix  C  are  given  the  results  of  all  the  gauging  of  the  San  Juan  Kiver  of 
which  the  board  has  been  able  to  tind  record.  They  consist  of  a  series  of  gaugings 
made  at  different  points  along  the  river  by  Colonel  Childs  in  1851 ;  of  a  similar  series 
made  by  Commander  Lull  in  1873;  of  a  single  gauging  made  by  the  canal  company 
in  1888,  and  of  two  gaugings  made  by  the  board  in  1895. 

All  the  measurements  of  the  discharge  of  Lake  Nicaragua  have  been  made  at  low 
stage,  but  none  at  the  lowest.  The  gaugings  of  Lull  and  Childs  at  this  point  agree 
as  nearly  as  can  be  expected  of  gaugings  made  hurriedly  and  at  such  a  long  interval 
of  time.  The  stage  of  the  lalie  at  the  time  of  Lull's  gauging,  102.28  feet  above 
mean  tide,  has  been  erroneously  accepted  by  the  company  as  extreme  low  water. 
At  the  time  the  gauging  at  Fort  San  Carlos  was  nuide  by  the  board,  May  26,  1895, 
tlie  stage  was  101.8  feet,  and  the  measured  discharge  9,420  cubic  feet  per  second, 
which  accords  very  well  with  the  results  of  Childs  and  Lull.  A  lower  stage  than 
tiiis,  however,  has  been  of  record  more  than  twenty  years.  On  the  2d  of  May,  1872, 
according  to  Lull's  profile,  the  lake  was  100.87  feet  above  mean  tide.  Still  lower 
stages  have  been  reported.  The  officers  of  the  Victoria,  a  steamboat  plying  on  Lake 
Nicaragua,  showed  to  the  engineers  of  the  canal  company  a  low-water  mark  whose 
elevation  was  98.6  feet;  this  was  contirmed  by  residents  at  the  head  of  Kisma 
Lagoon,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Tipitapa  Eiver  at  the  head  of  Lake  Nicaragua,  who 
pointed  out  a  ledge  of  rock  extending  across  the  river  which  has  been  bare;  its  ele- 
vation is  98.5  feet.  The  very  lowest  stage  known,  observed  at  Granada,  on  the  west 
side.'of  the  lake,  is  reported  by  Mr.  William  Klimie,  an  English  civil  engiut^er  who 
has  resided  in  Nicaragua  for  many  years.  Mr.  Climie  reports  a  stage  of  96.6  feet 
above  mean  low  tide. 

Of  course  the  information  is  extremely  scanty,  quite  insufficient,  but 
that  is  what  we  got. 

Mr.  NooNAN.  I  would  like  to  refer  to  the  sand  foundation.  You 
stated  it  could  be  utilized  by  boxing? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  stated  if  you  had  sand  packed  and  confined  in 
some  way  it  was  as  good  to  build  upon  as  anything  else. 

Mr.  NooNAN.  What  would  you  put  upon  that  sand,  concrete  or  rock? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Well,  I  would  work  pretty  hard  to  see  if  I  could 
not  fiud  some  bottom  in  there. 

]Mr.  KooNAN.  But  assuming  you  had  only  a  sand  bottom  ? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  You  could  build  a  masonry  dam  there,  but  it  would 
be  a  very  expensive  and  dangerous  thing;  and  the  Board  believes  that 
if  you  use  plenty  of  rock  with  due  precaution,  using  plenty  of  it  and 
using  careful  methods  as  you  are  building,  and  particularly  if  some 
means  can  be  provided  by  which  the  excessive  floods  can  be  drawn  off 
or  reduced  so  the  work  would  not  be  very  seriously  endangered  during 
the  construction  period,  we  could  get  the  dam  built. 

Mr.  XooNAN.  If  you  put  the  rock  next  to  the  sand  there,  would  it 
jeopardize  the  safety  of  the  whole  construction? 
N  c 23 


354  NICARAGUA   CANAL. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Jt  works  tbis  way:  You  can  check  tlie  flow  of 
^vatel■  through  sand  if  you  make  it  go  tlirougli  enough  sand.  lu  other 
words,  if  you  make  your  dam  long  enough  up  and  down  stream — we 
estimate  900  feet  will  be  necessary  for  that  ])urpose — the  friction  of  the 
water  passing  through  the  sand  that  long  distance  will  check  this  How. 
The  dam  will  leak  largely,  there  is  no  doubt.  That  is  the  fact  in  regard 
to  all  of  those  dams  founded  on  sand.  The  water  seeps  through,  but 
does  not  go  tlirough  with  any  force,  and  if  you  can  get  enough  rockiu 
there  you  can  get  the  dam  built.  We  are  satisfied  of  that. 
■  Mr.  NooNAN.  If  the  sand  has  suflicient  density  as  compared  with  the 
weight,  it  is  safe? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  The  sand  per  se  is  incompressible.  It  is  made  up 
of  incompressible  atoms,  and  when  you  get  it  in  a  compact 

INIr.  Noon  AN.  Do  you  exclude  the  water? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Of  course  that  sand  is  going  to  be  in  water,  but  if 
you  can  keep  the  water  from  passing  through  that  sand  Vvith  such  veloc- 
ity as  to  carry  the  sand  out,  well  and  good;  but,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  it 
is  a  little  difficult;  it  is  extremely  diflicult  to  determine  what  will  be 
the  effect  upon  the  bottom  of  that  head  of  water — GO  or  70  feet — when 
you  once  get  it  there.  We  know  very  little  about  it.  It  might  be  the 
water  would  find  some  place  in  the  banks  where  it  would  begin  to  pour 
through  under  that  head,  and  of  that  we  do  not  know.  It  would  require 
the  most  careful  investigation. 

Mr.  NooNAN.  You  present  the  thing  as  a  problem  entirely  without 
question  about  the  sand  foundation? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  We  get  to  the  point  of  saying  we  could  do  it.  We 
say  we  think  it  can  be  done,  although  it  has  never  l)een  done. 

The  CHAIR3I  AN.  What  would  be  the  effect  upon  this  dam  constructed 
of  loo>e  rock,  provided  the  water  was  permitted  to  pour  over  it  or  per- 
colate through  it  in  considerable  quantity  upon  the  lower  level  of  the 
dam  upon  this  foundation  of  sand;  what  would  be  the  tendency  toward 
undermining  it  and  destroying  the  cohesion? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  is  un(]uestioned  that  the  action  of  the  water  at 
that  point  would  have  to  be  watched  with  great  care,  and  stone  and 
materials  to  snpidy  M^aste  or  injury  must  be  on  hand  ready  for  innne- 
diate  apidication.  One  precaution  is  in  making  the  slope  itself  so  fiat 
the  ^^  ater  shall  come  off  sensibly  i)arallel  with  the  bottom  so  as  not  to 
have  a  plunging  action.     That  nuist  be  avoided. 

The  CiiAiEMAN.  Is  it  practical  to  have  that  slope  so  that  that  will  not 
hap])en? 

Colonel  liUDLOW.  We  think  it  can  be  done. 

The  Chairman.  Do  you  think  it  can  be  done  upon  the  hypothesis  of 
the  water  pouring  over  the  dam? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  No,  sir;  I  beg 3'our  pardon  there.  The  percolation 
of  the  water  through  it  I  was  considering.  The  board  is  absolutely 
clear  that  no  water  whate\  er  should  be  permitted  to  pass  over  that  dam, 
because  wherever  that  hapi)ens  the  destruction  of  the  dam  has  almost 
instantly  followed.  1  do  not  think  any  engineer  in  the  country,  1  am 
sure,  l)elie\'cs  you  could  build  a  rock-fill  dam  and  permit  the  Avater  to 
run  over  it,  and  gentlemen  of  very  extended  experience  with  those 
works  are  all  agreed  on  that  point. 

The  board  has  no  doubt  whatever  it  would  be  extremely  injudicious 
to  undertake  anything  of  the  kind.  The  water  must  not  go  over  that 
dam.  It  is  all  loose  material  to  handle,  and  the  passage  of  water  over 
that  dam  will  attack  not  the  body  of  the  dam,  but  will  attack  the  near- 
est piece  of  rock  with  which  it  is  in  contact.    It  is  not  the  mass  of  the 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  355 

dam  it  deals  with  at  tliat  point  at  all.  It  is  uotbiug  but  an  individual 
piece  of  rock,  with  no  other  resistance  to  the  action  of  the  water  than 
its  own  weight,  and  to  such  an  exteut  as  it  maybe  jammed  against  the 
adjoining"  pieces.  Furthermore,  the  w^eight  of  these  blocks  is  reduced 
by  virtue  of  the  fact  that  they  are  below  the  surface  of  the  water,  or 
.partially  suumerged,and  to  that  extent  their  actual  weight  is  reduced. 
A  block  of  stone  Avhich  weighs  5  tons  in  the  air  does  not  weigh  that 
under  Avater.  You  have  to  reduce  the  weight  by  the  amount  of  cubic 
feet  of  Avater  it  displaces. 

1  may  say  with  regard  to  that,  another  grave  doubt  introduces  itself. 
It  is  i>roposed,  of  course,  to  build  this  dam  out  of  tlie  material  to  be 
taken  from  the  east  divide,  a  perfectly  rational  proposition.  It  lemains 
yet  to  be  actually  certified  as  to  Avhether  the  rock  out  of  the  east  divide 
can  be  gotten  out  and  handled  in  sufficient  mass  so  you  can  get  big 
enough  stones  to  tumble  in  there.  At  the  entrance  to  the  Suez  Canal 
at  Port  Said  they  use  great  blocks  of  22  tons  of  solid  concrete,  yet  the 
action  of  the  sea  on  those  blocks — it  is  only  a  moderate  sea  in  the 
Mediterranean — carries  them  off  at  the  rate  of  about  thirty  or  forty  a 
year.  So  they  have  to  keep  a  constant  supply  for  the  jetty  w^hich 
extends  into  the  Mediterranean. 

Now,  you  want  to  get  blocks  of  that  kind  out  for  that  purjiose  in  the 
east  divide,  both  for  Greytown  Harbor  and  the  Ochoa  Dam.  They  can 
not  be  too  large,  and  whether  this  curious  volcanic  rock,  which  has  all 
sorts  of  characteristics,  most  unexpected,  if  you  like,  and  nnich  of 
which  is  soft,  is  possible  to  be  obtained  in  such  masses,  we  do  not  know. 
Sui)pose  you  get  that  rock  out  of  the  east  divide  and  })nt  it  in  the 
Ochoa  Dam,  and  under  the  action  of  the  air  and  water  this  volcanic 
rock  begins  to  decompose  and  run  to  mud?  Then  "where  are  you  at?" 
so  to  speak.  These  contingencies  we  could  not  answer.  We  had  not 
the  information  to  deal  with  them  at  all. 

Mr.  ( 'ORLis.s.  There  is  one  question  I  would  like  to  ask  the  Colonel, 
just  for  personal  information.  Taking  into  consideration  your  investi- 
gation of  this  enterprise  and  the  great  benefit  it  would  be  to  the  Amer- 
ican nation,  or  the  American  nations  and  commerce,  do  you  not  deem 
the  investigation  to  have  i)rogressed  far  enough  to  warrant  the  acquisi- 
tion by  tiie  Government  of  the  right  of  way  and  concession  and  to  enter 
into  negotiations  for  the  ultimate  construction  of  it  and  control  of  it  by 
the  United  States  Government? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Do  I  believe  it  would  be  Avise  to  enter  into  nego- 
tiations Avith  those  two  States  to  acquire  this  concession  ? 

Mr.  Corliss.  To  obtain  the  right  to  construct  the  canal  by  the 
United  States  GoA^ernment. 

'Colonel  Ludlow.  I  should  think  that  it  might  be  a  A^ery  Avise  precau- 
tion to  let  it  take  that  form.     That  is  not  an  engineering  question ■ 

]\Ir,  Patterson.  It  is  not  an  engineering  question. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  It  is  more  a  political  question^ 

]Mr.  Joy.  A  diplomatic  question. 

Colonel  LuDLOAV.  I  do  not  know  how  the  in^esent  concession  is,  but  I 
heard  the  chief  engineer  say  it  expires  in  1890, 

Mr.  Corliss.  The  question  is  simply  whether  the  United  States  Gov- 
ernment, in  your  judgment,  should  have  this  right  to  construct  and 
maintain  a  canal  lliere? 

]Mr.  Joy.  I  submit  that  is  a  diplomatic  question. 

Mr.  Corliss,  I  realize  it  is,  but  I  did  not  know  Avhether  the  Colonel 
cared  to 

Colonel  LuDLOAV.  It  is  a  political  question,  and  Ave  have  not  entered 


356  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

upon  tliat  at  all.  When  we  examined  the  construction  of  Greytowu 
Harbor  we  ignored  the  fact  tlie  line  we  proposed  was  over  what  was 
claimed  to  be  the  boundary,  because  we  did  not  belu've  this  work 
should  be  considered  in  that  connection  at  all.  The  crossing  of  the 
boun<hiry  does  not  amount  to  ii  row  of  pins  in  comparison  with  the 
serious  effect  on  the  very  formidable  construction  of  that  harbor. 

The  Ciiair:man.  There  is  a  question  which  I  would  like  to  ask  which 
1  think  would  bo  entirely  legitimate  for  you  to  answer.  While  you 
were  in  Nicaragua  engaged  in  your  duties,  what  did  you  discover,  if 
anything',  with  reference  to  the  feeling  of  the  peoi:>le  wlioui  you  came  in 
(contact  with  respecting  the  Government  of  the  Unitd  States  partici- 
pating actively,  and  i)erhaps  in  the  sense  of  control,  in  the  construction 
of  this  work! 

Colonel  Ludlow.  I  do  not  think,  really,  sir,  we  had  any  touch  with 
that  question.  I  do  not  remember  that  Ave  had.  I  will  say  the  Nica- 
raguan  authorities  treated  us  with  extreme  courtesy. 

The  Chaikman,  You  found  nothing  but  friendly  feeling'? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  ISTothiug  at  all  but  friendly  assurances  and  cour- 
tesies and  welcome. 

The  Chairman.  And  they  manifested  an  interest  in  the  enterprise, 
did  they? 

Colonel  LiTDLOW.  They  did  manifest  an  interest  to  this  extent — they 
sent  down  two  commissioners  to  meet  us,  who  were  specially  accredited 
to  meet  us  at  the  wharf  and  extend  all  facilities  that  they  could,  and 
they  gave  us  the  use  of  tlie  State  telegraph. 

The  Chair:\ian.  And  they  knew  you  were  there,  of  course,  represent- 
ing the  United  States  Government  ? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  They  knew  our  errand,  and  we  were  received, 
although  not  formally  accredited  to  the  Government  in  any  sense;  they 
met  us  with  a  salute  of  11  guns,  and  we  exchanged  courtesies  and  calls, 
and  that  was  done  all  the  way  up  the  river  by  both  garrisons,  and  also 
at  Managua. 

Mr.  Wanger.  And  they  knew  your  business  there  was  in  connection 
with  the  i)rojected  canal  ? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  A'es,  sir;  the  commissioners  were  sent  down  to 
meet  us  for  that  purpose.  It  was  ({uite  well  known  in  Nicaragua  in 
regard  to  our  coming,  because  the  company  were  nniking  preparations 
to  receive  us. 

The  Chairman.  Ami  you  are  satisfied  you  were  favorably  received  ? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Absolutely;  there  was  lu^  shade  of  a  discourtesy  at 
any  i)oiut.  On  the  contrary.  There  were  a  few  druuKen  men  cursing 
the  Yankees  at  a  few  places,  and  we  had  to  look  out  for  fear  of  some  of 
them  knifing  some  of  our  i)arty,  but 

Mr.  NooNAN.  l^robably  it  was  the  influence  of  whisky  ? 

Colonel  Ludlow.  These  commissioners  did  notify  us  at  Greytowu, 
before  Ave  started  out  on  our  quest,  that  we  could  not  go  and  look  at  the 
Colorado  with  the  idea  of  carrying  the  canal  down  that  stream,  but  of 
course  we  did  not  pay  attention  to  that.  AVe  considered  the  matter 
solely  as  engineers. 

STATEMENT  OF  ME.  A.  G.  MENOCAL— Resumed. 

The  Chairman  (to  Mr.  IMenocal).  Have  you  anything  you  desire  to 
sav? 

Mr.  ^Menogal.  I  do  not  think  I  need  to  say  anything.  What  has 
been  said  here  to-day  had  been  stated  in  previous  testimony,  and  I  have 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  357 

gone  over  it  in  my  original  written  statement  and  previons  testimony 
before  the  coinniittee.  1  do  not  know  tliat  I  liave  anything  to  add;  but 
I  will  be  glad  to  answer  any  questions  from  you  or  any  member  of  the 
committee.  As  to  the  question  put  by  Colonel  Ludlow,  whether  I  have 
been  over  these  hills  personally,  I  should  answer 

Colonel  Ludlow.  That  was  not  my  question. 

Mr.  JMenocal.  I  explored  that  region,  I  pointed  out  on  every  one  of 
those  hills  where  embankments  should  be  built,  and  put  the  engineers 
there  to  work  developing  the  topography.  Its  develo])ment  was  finally 
concluded  about  1801.  I  was  rearranging  the  line  of  the  embankments 
just  before  1  left,  in  order  to  conform  it  to  the  topography  as  developed 
by  the  engineers,  aiul  some  slight  changes  were  made  from  one  hill  to 
another  in  order  to  get  a  better  location,  and  I  will  add  that  since  that 
final  development  of  the  tojwgraphy  by  the  engineers  I  have  not  been 
over  the  line  finally  located  over  those  hills,  Init  I  have  been  over  every 
individual  hill,  and  I  selected  the  line  of  embankments. 

Colonel  Ludlow.  Now  as  to  the  other,  if  you  please. 

Mr.  Doohttle.  You  need  answer  only  questions  put  to  you  by  the 
committee. 

Mr.  Wanger.  I  adopt  tlie  question. 

jNlr.  IMenocal.  If  he  refers  to  the  San  Carlos  region,  I  have  explored 
the  San  Carlos  and  all  those  hills,  commencing  in  1873  and  again  in 
1885.  I  have  examined  that  region  and  those  hills  in  the  valley  of  the 
San  Carlos,  and  placed  engineers  there  to  develop  the  topography,  and 
from  the  development  of  the  engineers  the  embankment  line  was  laid 
down.  Since  that  embankment  line  was  laid  down  I  have  not  been 
over  the  line  myself.  There  was  no  necessity  for  my  doing  so.  That 
is  a  statement  of  the  facts.  I  selected  the  line  for  the  embankments 
over  tliose  hills,  and  while  there  may  have  been  slight  changes  in  the 
final  location  of  these  embankments  from  one  hill  to  another — but  that 
strikes  me  as  rather  immaterial,  as  I  have  been  over  the  ground,  every 
foot  of  it. 

Now,  this  board  seems  to  admit  the  practicability  of  the  canal  as  laid 
down  by  the  company's  plans  Avith  some  modifications  on  which  we  do  not 
agree  entirely,  but  1  have  treated  those  questions  in  my  written  state- 
ment. Tiie  question  as  to  how  much  you  can  do  a  piece  of  work  for  can 
be  settled  only  by  bids  from  difl'erent  contractors  who  may  be  found 
ready  to  do  the  work. 

Mr.  Wanger.  What  is  the  basis  for  the  belief  that  rock  can  be  taken 
out  in  blocks  of  sufilicient  size  from  the  cut  in  the  oast  divide  to  build  the 
piers  at  Greytown  and  Ochoa  Dam? 

JNIr.  Menocal.  From  the  fact  that  similar  work  has  been  done  in  a 
great  many  parts  of  the  Avorld  and  is  now  being  done  in  the  United 
States.  There  is  no  doubt  you  can  get  large  blocks  of  rock  if  you  use 
the  proper  appliances  to  do  it  with. 

Mr.  Wanger.  Is  it  from  borings,  or  what  form  of  iPi  vestigation  of  this 
])articular  rock  bed? 

jMr.  Menocal.  Borings  have  been  made  there.  Colonel  Ludlow  has 
read  the  report  of  the  geologist  in  regard  to  the  quality  of  rock.  We 
believe  there  is  plenty  of  rock  hard  enough  for  the  construction  of  the 
breakwater,  and  also  for  the  construction  of  the  dam.  Is  that  the 
question? 

Mr.  Wanger.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr,  Menocal.  From  the  borings  which  have  been  carried  to  the  level 
of  the  bottom  of  the  canal  at  about  1,(>0()  feet  from  one  to  another,  the 
character  of  the  rock  in  sight  at  the  numerous  rapids,  and  the  opinion 


358  NICARAGUA.    CANAL. 

of  the  geologist,  we  have  come  to  the,  conelnsioii  that  we  have  a  snffi- 
cieiit  amount  of  rock  there  for  tlie  construction  of  the  dam  aud  the 
breakwater,  aud  that  it  cau  be  obtained  in  blocks  of  the  size  required 
for  the  work. 

The  Chairman.  Did  you  find  any  imperfect  rock  by  those  borings'? 

INIr.  Menocal.  Yes,  sir;  some  of  the  rock  is  harder  than  others.  It 
is  not  quite  uniform,  but  we  believe  there  is  sufBcient  hard  rock  for  tlie 
works  proposed. 

Tlie  Chairman.  Might  not  that  rock  turn  out  to  l>e  not  adapted  to 
ex]>osure? 

Mr.  Menocal.  It  is  possible  for  a  portion  of  it.  What  has  been 
classified  as  soft  may  turn  out  to  be  of  inferior  quality  for  the  con- 
struction of  this  work,  but  we  believe  there  is  su<hcient  aud  a  great 
deal  more  than  is  needed  to  construct  the  works  we  propose. 

j\Ir.  Bennett.  Mr.  Chairman,  1  move  we  adjourn. 

^Ir.  Joy.  I  ask  the  privilege  of  live  or  ten  minutes'  hearing  for  Mr. 
Hubbard  at  our  next  meeting. 

Thereupon  the  committee  adjourned. 


Wednesday,  3[ai/ !),  jsoo. 

The  Committee  on  Interstate  and  Foreign  Commerce  this  day  met, 
Hon.  William  P.  Hepburn  iu  the  chair. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  31  r.  Cliairmau  and  geutlemen  of  the  committee, 
Governor  ]\IacCorkle,  of  West  Virginia,  has  kindly  consented  to  appear 
here  aiul  discuss  certnin  phases  of  tlie  Nicaraguaan  Canal  matter. 

The  Chairman.  The  committee  will  be  pleased  to  hear  him. 

STATEMENT    OF    GOVERNOR    WILLIAM    A.  M'CORKLlE,    OF    WEST 

VIRGINIA. 

Governor  MacCorkle  said : 

Mr.  Chairman  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Committee:  I  appreciate 
very  much  the  courtesy  of  the  committee  and  will  make  my  statement 
as  concise  as  its  subject-matter  will  allow  me  to.  I  am  very  well  aware 
that  the  committee,  in  not  conlining  me  in  reference  to  time,  is  doing 
me  and  the  section  I  represent  a  very  great  favor.  I  will  confine  the 
discussion  to-day  to  the  relation  which  the  Ohio  Eiver  Valley  bears  to 
the  Niciiraguan  Canal  in  reference  to  the  production  of  coal.  Unless 
particular  attention  has  been  directed  to  this  especial  subject  it  will  be 
very  hard  to  app.eciate  its  vast  importance  to  the  people  of  the  United 
States.  A  very  i)ecii]iar  thing  is  taking  place  upon  the  Pacific  Coast. 
The  Pacific  Coast  of  the  United  States,  as  well  as  the  West  Indies  aud 
Southern  and  Central  America,  is  almost  dominated  by  foreign  coal. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  either  Great  IJritain  or  its  dependencies  furnish 
this  coal,  when  every  bushel  of  <'(>al,  either  on  the  Pacific  Coast,  in 
Soutliern  and  Central  America,  or  tlie  West  Indies  can  be  furnished 
inor(^  cheaply  by  the  Appalachian  coal  chain,  lying  largely  in  the  Ohio 
Valley,  than  by  any  other  section  of  the  world. 

The  Chairman.  By  the  canal? 

(ioveruor  MacCorkle.  Yes,  sir.  This,  of  course,  can  be  done  only 
through  the  construction  of  the  Nicaraguan  Canal.  I  Avill  ]noceed  to 
give  my  reasons  lor  this  ])roposition. 

There  is  no  iK)rtion  of  the  United  States  which  will  be  benefited  by 
the  iSIicaraguau  Canal  as  the  Ohio  and  Mississipi)i  valleys,  particularly 


NlCAt^AGUA    CANAL.  359 

the  Ohio  Valley.  In  the  mere  matter  of  coal  the  benefit  to  the  Ohio 
Valley  will  be  incalculable.  My  limited  time  will  not  allow  niore  than 
a  cursory  discussion,  even  of  coal.  The  advantages  to  the  Ohio  Valley 
in  its  relation  to  its  very  multitudinous  products  will  not  be  discussed. 
The  hi.u'hest  development  of  the  Appalachian  coal  chain  takes  place  in 
West  Virghiia,  Pennsylvania,  and  Kentucky,  and  from  this  great  body 
of  conl  will  come  in  the  future  the  great  bulk  of  supply  of  the  world. 
Within  the  Appalachian  chain  there  are  about  04,000  scjnare  miles  of 
coal.  The  cuttings  made  by  erosion  and  by  the  various  agencies  of 
nature  have  adapted  this  coal  to  easy  mining  and  transportation  to  a 
greater  extent  than  any  other  coal  of  commerce.  The  coal  formation 
of  the  Appalachian  coal  field  has  a  deposit,  which,  in  the  aggrej;ate, 
will  amount  to  9,000  feet,  and  in  this  field  there  are  more  than  100 
distinct  workable  coal  measures. 

The  Appalachian  field  furnishes  about  two-thirds  of  the  output  of 
bituminous  coal  in  this  country  and  all  but  41  per  cent  of  the  total 
production  of  coke.  The  vastness  of  the  coal  trade  of  this  field  is 
hardly  appreciated.  Just  in  one  comparatively  small  district  alone,  the 
Pittsburg  district,  we  have  •$50,000,000  in  coal  investments.  The  value 
of  the  (;oal  output  last  year  in  this  country  amounted  to  $200,000,000. 

This  great  Appalachian  field  is  about  900  miles  in  length  and  from 
50  to  180  miles  in  width,  and  extends  from  northern  Pennsylvania  to 
middle  Alabama.  It  embraces  the  Ohio  Valley,  western  Pennsylvania, 
Ohio,  West  Virginia,  eastern  Kentucky,  and  the  Elkhorn  district  of 
Virginia.  This  area  embraces  the  largest  and  best  i)arts  of  the  Appa- 
lachian coal  Held. 

I  generally  use  West  Virginia  as  an  illustration  because  this  State 
has  within  its  borders  a  greater  amount  of  the  Appalachian  coal  field 
than  any  other  State.  It  has  more  that  80  per  cent  of  the  total  bitu- 
minous areas  of  Ohio  and  Pennsylvania  combined.  It  has  more  than 
Pennsylvania  alone  and  2,000  square  miles  more  than  Kentucky  and 
Tennessee  combined. 

In  Kentucky  the  coal-bearing  rocks  within  this  field  have  a  thickness 
averaging  2,000  feet,  and  there  are  from  eight  to  ten  merchantable  coals 
within  her  boundaries,  and  all  are  splendid  coals,  Kentucky  having  both 
the  Illinois  and  the  true  Appalachian  coals. 

Mr.  liENNETT.  You  spoke  a  moment  ago  about  the  strata  of  the 
Appalachian  coal  chain;  you  said  something  about  2,000  feet.  What 
do  you  mean  ? 

Governor  IMacCorkle.  I  mean  the  coal-bearing  formations  in  Ken- 
tucky, 

Mr.  Bennett.  Is  that  in  direct  depth  ? 

Governor  IMacOorkle.  That  is  not  always  the  absolute  depth. 

]VIr.  Bennett.  What  depth  is  the  deepest  vein  you  know  of  in  the 
Appalachian  mine  region  ? 

Governor  MacOorkle.  The  good  merchantable  coal  in  the  Appa- 
lachian coal  chain  averages  from  3i  to  11  feet.  Of  course,  the  lat- 
ter is  extreme,  but  obtains  in  a  number  of  places  in  West  Virginia, 
Kentucky,  and  ^laryland,  and  several  jilaces  in  Pennsylvania. 

Mr.  Bennett.  To  what  depth  below  the  earth's  surface  do  you  fol- 
low the  coal  in  the  Appalachian  coal  chain  ! 

Governor  MacCorkle.  Various  depths.  Throughout  Kentucky  and 
West  Virginia  there  are  very  few  shaft  mines.  In  Pennsyhania  there 
are  more,  but  the  majority  of  the  mines  in  the  Appalachian  coal  chain 
are  above  ground  and  in  the  mountain  side.  The  mines  in  a  vast  num- 
ber of  instances  drain  themselves.     The  veins  in  the  great  majority 


?)G0  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

of  instances  lie  imiform  and  level.  This  causes  our  mininji'  to  be  so 
niarvelously  clieap  in  this  j^reat  coal  field.  For  instance,  iu  Australia, 
Nova  Scotia,  British  America,  and  in  a  number  of  the  AVestern  States 
and  in  England  they  are  compelled  to  burrow  great  distances  in  the 
ground  in  order  to  get  the  coal.  In  many  instances  in  England  tliey 
are  2,000  feet  in  the  ground.  This  is  not  the  case  in  the  Appalachian 
coal  chain. 

On  the  basis  that  the  Ohio  Valley  has  the  best  and  cheapest  coals  in 
the  world,  it  should  supply  the  greatest  part  of  the  increase  needed  by 
the  world's  demands.  The  coals  of  this  coal  field  are  the  gieatest  and 
l)est  formations.  It  is  true  the  Western  coals  are  fair  coals  for  some 
purposes,  but  in  matters  relating  to  steam  raising  and  iron  making 
none  of  the  Western  veins  of  coal  are  at  all  comparable  to  the  coals  of 
the  A])palachian  field.  In  many  of  the  States  of  the  West  they  have 
big  veins  of  coal,  l)ut  the  highest  development  as  to  quality  is  never 
seen  in  the  West.  All  of  the  Western  coal  fields  are  more  difilicult  to 
mine  than  our  Eastern  or  Appalachian  coals,  and  none  of  them  have 
the  purity  of  the  last-named  coals.  The  Vancouver  Island  coals  are 
the  best  American  coals  supplying  the  Pacific  market,  and,  except  the 
Japanese  coals,  about  all  of  the  coals  imported  and  in  full  use  on 
the  Pacific  Coast  are  from  the  British  possessions.  The  Western 
United  States  coals,  possibly  excepting  Washington  coals,  can  not  com- 
pete with  the  coals  of  tlie  British  possessions.  Tliis  results  from  two 
circumstances:  First,  the  quality  of  the  coal  is  not  so  good;  second, 
the  high  rate  of  railroad  transportation  in  the  West,  and  longdistance 
from  })oint  of  production  to  point  of  consumption. 

The  Vancouver  Island  coals  are  fair  coals,  and  while  they  are  gener- 
ally better  than  the  Western  coals,  they  belong  to  tlie  recent  coal  for- 
mations. This  is  the  case  with  nearly  all  of  the  AVestern  coals.  They 
are  not  generally  good  steam-raising  coals,  because  of  the  great  abun- 
dance of  suliihur  and  ash,  and  because  of  tlieir  absolute  destruction  of 
boilers  and  fire  boxes  and  of  all  api)liances  in  which  they  are  used. 

The  coal  of  Vancouver  Island,  as  I  said  before,  is  good  coal,  but  not 
comparable  to  our  product.  For  instance,  take  the  Wellington  coal, 
which  is  considered  the  best  on  the  Pacific  Coast,  and  compare  with  the 
West  Virginia  coal.  In  the  Wellington  coal  the  fixed  carbon  is  50. 54; 
volatile  matter,  34;  water,  2.05;  ash,  7.41.  Now,  compare  with  the 
Elk  (rarden  coals  of  West  Virginia.  The  fixed  carbon  of  the  latter  is 
76.28;  volatile  matter,  19.25;  ash,  3.02;  water,  0.98. 

Thus  you  will  sec,  by  a  simple  comparison  of  analyses,  the  immense 
superiority  of  the  ^Vppalachiau  coals  over  the  best  coals  of  Vancouver 
Island.  These  latter  coals  are  confidently  relied  upon,  when  their 
development  is  completed,  to  control  all  the  Western  coast  trade, 
including  Central  and  South  America. 

The  Western  coals  are  generally  brown  coals  or  lignites,  not  yet  devel- 
o]mh1  into  good  coal,  and  in  no  sense  of  the  word  compare  either  for 
domestic  uses  or  for  cooking  i)urposes  or  steam-raising  purposes  with 
our  splendid  coals.  They  are  not  the  true  carboniferous  era  coals. 
They  have  too  nuieh  water  and  are  of  a  woody  texture.  They  sla('k  too 
easily,  and  the  draft  forces  burning  particles  through  the  screens.  Vast 
sums  of  money  have  been  spent  in  i>reparing  ajipliances  i'ov  the  use  of 
these  coals,  so  as  to  make  then  valuable  for  the  various  uses  of  commerce, 
but  as  yet  none  have  been  discovered  which  make  these  coals  in  auy  way 
the  equal  of  our  splendid  Appalachian  coals. 

In  the  Western  States  transportation  is  the  great  question ,  and  nowhere 
in  the  world  can  overland  railroad  transportation  compare  with  water 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  361 

transportation.  In  every  instance  the  coals  ■whicli  have  water  transpor- 
tiktioii  can  be  marketed  at  very  much  cheaper  rates.  The  water  trauspor- 
tatidii  would  average  about  one-flfth  per  ton  per  mile  the  cost  of  the 
railroad  transportation.  The  river  transportation  and  water  transpor- 
tation, for  instance  the  transportation  on  the  Ohio  from  Pittsburg  to 
New  Orleans  is  about  one-twentieth  of  a  cent  per  ton  per  mile.  Hence, 
the  coals  of  Colorado,  which  are  perhaps  the  l)est  coals  in  the  West,  are 
not  readily  available  for  use  on  the  Pacific  Coast  because  of  the  great 
cost  of  transportation.  So  it  is  Avith  the  coals  of  Washington,  which 
are  very  good  coals,  but  unless  they  are  immediately  near' the  seacoast 
the  cost  of  transportation  is  too  high  to  make  them  available  for  all  of 
these  purposes.  The  State  of  Washington,  outside  of  the  Ai)palachian 
coal  chain,  is  the  only  hope  of  successful  competition  with  P>ritish  coals. 
In  Texas  there  is  a  vast  amount  of  coal,  au(l  such  is  the  case  in  New 
INIexico,  but  these  coals  are  not  likely  to  compete  with  the  Appalachian 
coals.  Generally  speaking  the  coals  of  these  States,  and,  as  I  have  said 
before,  of  principally  the  whole  West,  are  the  brown  coals  more  nearly 
approaching  lignites. 

Then,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  only  coals  which  can  compete  on  the 
Pacific  Coast  with  the  British  Isles,  Australian,  and  IJritish  American 
coals,  and  the  Japanese  coals  are  the  coals  of  the  Appalachian  field, 
and  the  question  is  how  to  sujiply  the  Pacific  Coast  with  these  magnifi- 
cent coals. 

The  initial  price  of  coal  in  this  country  is  less  than  in  any  other 
country.  It  is  from  (iO  to  85  cents  per  ton  at  the  mines  in  the  Appala- 
chian coal  field,  the  average  price  per  ton  at  the  mines  in  West  Vir- 
ginia in  1894  being  75  cents,  the  cheapest  in  the  world.  This  as  against 
$1.24  in  Colorado,  $2.33  in  Washington,  93  cents  in  Alabama,  and  as 
against  about  $1.87  i^er  ton  in  Belgium,  $2.25  in  Japan,  from  $1.75  to 
$2.25  in  New  South  Wales,  and  from  $1.05  to  $2.25  in  Great  Britain. 
It  will  be  understood  from  this  statement  that  only  cheap  transporta- 
tion is  needed  for  the  coals  of  the  Appalachian  coal  field  to  control  the 
coal  consumption  of  the  Pacific  Coast. 

England  is  a  great  i^roducer  of  coal  and  puts  out  about  185,000,000 
tons  ])er  year  as  against  about  170,000,000  in  the  United  States.  The 
United  States  produces  about  30  per  cent  of  all  the  coal  of  the  world, 
and  it  is  absolutely  necessary  for  our  development  in  the  production 
of  coals  that  we  take  charge  of  the  markets  of  the  Pacific  Coast  and 
of  South  and  Central  America,  Mexico,  and  the  West  Indies.  Great 
Britain  exported  33,000,000  tons  of  coal  as  against  only  about  2,000,000 
tons  of  bituminous  coal  exported  from  the  United  States  in  1894. 
England  sends  about  200,000  tons  to  the  Pacific  Coast,  and  about 
880,000  to  Brazil,  750,000  to  the  Argentine  Pepublic,  340,000  to  Chile, 
and  44,000  to  Peru. 

England  ships  every  year  to  these  latter  markets  2,500,000  tons  of 
coal. 

Mr.  Bennett.  When  you  spoke  of  British,  what  territory  does  that 
expression  include! 

Governor  MacCorkle,  As  I  have  used  it  above,  I  mean  England 
proper,  Wales,  and  Scotland. 

Mr.  Bennett,  You  did  not  take  in  by  that  the  Australian  and  British- 
American  mines? 

Governor  MacCorkje.  No,  sir. 

Mr.  Bennett.  Then  they  are  not  included  in  the  total  of  about 
185,000,000  tons? 

Governor  MacCorkle.  No,  sir;  I  meant  the  British  Islands  alone, 
which  mine  from  185,000,000  to  188,000,000  tons  of  coal. 


3G2  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

This  country  slionld  control  these  markets  for  the  simple  and  natural 
reason  that  we  are  nearer  to  them,  and  our  rehitions  are  in  every  sense 
of  the  word  closer  than  in  Great  Britain.  The  coals  of  South  America, 
so  far  as  they  have  been  developed,  do  not  show  their  ability  to  suc- 
cessfully compete  with  the  Appalachian  coals.  The  coals  of  the  liepnb- 
lic  of  Colombia  are  fairly  good,  some  of  them  very  good,  but  as  a  mat- 
ter of  fact  they  will  not  be  able  to  compete  with  ours.  In  Chile,  which 
atone  time  was  heralded  as  a  great  coal-producing  State,  latest  inves- 
tigations have  not  carried  out  the  ideas  Avhich  were  once  conceived  con 
corning  the  coal.  'l"'he  veins  are  thin  and  the  coal  not  of  the  best 
(|uality,  and  can  not  compete,  or  only  to  a  very  small  extent,  with  our 
coals.  Such  is  the  case  with  Mexico.  There  seem  to  be  some  good 
coals  in  Alaska,  but  as  yet  little  is  known  about  them. 

IVFr.  DooLiTTLE.  Would  not  the  cheap  coals  coming  through  the 
canal  stimulate  manufacture  on  the  Pacific  Coast,  and  would  it  not 
stinuilate  immensely  the  miniug  interests  of  the  country! 

Governor  MacCorkle.  Immensely.  The  trouble  is,  the  I*acific  Coast 
is  killed  as  a  manufacturing  section  by  reason  of  the  high  price  of  fuel. 
Six  dollars  to  |8  is  too  high  for  fuel. 

The  Pacific  Coast  should  be  one  of  the  great  manufacturing  sections 
of  the  world.  It  has  splendid  minerals,  magnificent  forests,  and  the 
finest  timber  in  the  world.  It  has  very  fertile  soil,  a  delightful  and 
equable  climate,  energetic  people,  and  is  splendidly  situated  in  refer- 
ence to  the  Orient.  It  has  a  vast  number  of  products  needed  in  manu- 
facture, and  at  the  same  time  what  is  manufactured  on  the  Pacific  Coast 
can  be  taken  cheaply  to  the  market  of  the  East  and  sold  to  a  very  great 
advantage.  So,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  one  of  the  great  demands  of  the 
western  coast  will  be  for  coal.  Every  consideration  of  economy,  as 
well  as  every  consideration  of  national  pride,  is  opposed  to  our  absolute 
dei)endence  upon  Pritish  possessions  for  the  coal  which  is  the  founda- 
tion of  the  prosperity  of  this  great  manufactiiring  section.  The  only 
hope  of  our  successful  comi>etion  with  British  coal  is  through  the  Nica- 
ragiiau  Canal.  Kailroad  transportation  across  the  continent  is  out  of 
the  question. 

In  West  Mrginia,  which  is  a  fair  center  of  the  Appalachian  coal  field, 
we  are  mining  and  loading  coal  at  00  to  85  cents  per  ton  on  cars  and 
$1.80  f.  o.  b.  at  the  coast.  We  are  mining  cheaper  coals  than  the  Japan 
coals.  Her  coals  cost  her  $1.50  f.  o.  b.  at  the  mines,  although  she  pays 
her  miners  only  G  cents  per  day. 

^Ir.  DoOLiTTLE.  They  are  selling  bunker  lots  at  $4.25  under  contract 
and  $4.50  for  shipment. 

Governor  IVIacCorkle.  That  is  true.  Yet,  notwithstanding  this, 
Japan  is  driving  Australia  and  Great  Britain  out  of  the  eastern  market. 
In  the  port  of  Hongkong,  which  is  getting  to  be  one  of  the  greatest 
coal  markets  in  the  East,  the  Japanese  coals  are  really  dominant,  and 
as  they  develop  the  large  territory  which  is  in  the  Island  of  Formosa, 
as  well  as  JNIiike  in  southern  Japan,  her  iiitluence  will  be  more  greatly 
felt  day  by  day.  She  will  become  a  great  competitor,  but  our  coals, 
for  the  reason  I  have  given,  will  undersell  her.  The  ISTew  South  Wales 
coals  and  the  I'nglish  coals  are  worth  about  $1.75  to  $2.25  per  ton  at 
the  pit  mouth.  The  l^^nglish  coals  cost  from  $4  to  $0  per  ton  delivered 
in  London,  while  our  good  coals  are  carried  about  000  miles  and  laid 
down  f.  o.  b.  in  New  York  Harbor  at  from  $2.40  to  $3  per  ton.  There- 
fore any  enterprise  which  will  allow  the  coals  of  this  great  Appalachian 
field,  and  ])arti('ularly  of  the  Ohio  Yalley,  to  be  sent  to  the  Western 
market  will    benefit  both    this   market   and    this   great  valley   to   an 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  3C3 

immcasnrable  extent.  At  the  same  time  it  will  be  of  incalculable  benefit 
to  the  Pacific  Coast. 

By  the  construction  of  the  Nicaraguan  Canal,  the  price  of  coal  up 
and  clown  the  coast  of  the  Pacific  will  be  lessened  to  a  very  great  extent. 
The  obvious  advantage  of  this  canal  will  be  seen  both  in  time  and 
rates. 

The  Chairman.  Let  me  ask  you  what  would  be  the  freight  charges 
from  New  Orleans  to  San  Francisco  through  this  canal  on  the  basis  of 
$2  a  ton  toll. 

Governor  MacCorkle.  The  distance  from  New  Orleans  to  San  Fran- 
cisco by  the  present  route  is  4,080  miles.  I  give  the  toll  at  $  J ,  but  even 
at  $"2  toll,  leaving  4,000  miles  for  ocean  traffic,  you  will  still  see  that 
we  undersell  the  British-American  and  the  Pacific  Coast  coal.  It  will 
not  take,  of  course,  $4  per  ton  freight.  At  the  present  rate  you  can  cal- 
culate the  general  rate  at  $8  \>er  ton  on  coal.  This  is  safe  and  conserv- 
ative. The  present  run  is  15,000  miles.  The  run  through  the  canal 
is  only  4,000  miles — a  little  more  than  one-fourth  of  the  original  dis- 
tance. The  reduction  in  freight  would  be  obviously  one-half  and  more, 
to  say  the  least,  because  there  is  only  one-third  of  the  distance  by  the 
canal. 

By  railroad  across  the  continent  freights  are  from  $20  to  $30  and  the 
time  is  from  twenty  to  twenty-five  days.  By  sailing  vessel  arouiul  the 
Horn  it  takes  one  hundred  and  twenty  days,  and  the  freight  rates  are 
from  $8  to  |10  per  ton.  By  the  canal  this  time  would  be  reduced  to 
thirty  to  forty  days,  with  a  reduction  of  at  least  one-half  in  freight 
charges.  Steam  vessels  through  the  Straits  of  INfagellan  now  take 
from  forty  to  fifty  days,  with  freights  from  $10  to  $12  per  ton.  This 
time  will  be  reduced  from  seventeen  to  twenty  days  in  length  of  voyage, 
with  the  freight  rates  correspondingly  reduced. 

The  fiuotntions  at  San  Francisco  are  as  follows:  Puget  Sound  coal,  $0 
to  $7;  Southfield,  British  Columbia,  $7.50;  Wellington,  British  Colum- 
bia, $8;  Australian  and  European  coal,  spot  lots,  $5.25  to  $0.59,  with 
nn  average  of  British  island  coal  at  $0.50  to  $7. 

The  coal  of  the  Ohio  Valley  can  be  placed  in  the  harbor  of  San 
Francisco  at  from  $4.50  to  $0.50  per  ton,  with  steadily  decreasing  ])rice, 
leaving  out  the  consideration  of  the  vast  difference  in  quality  in  fiivor 
of  the  coal  of  the  Ohio  Valley.  By  the  building  of  this  canal  we  have 
the  advantage  of  distance  over  any  other  coal  exce[)ting  the  Pacific 
(;oast  coal,  which,  as  1  have  shown  before,  can  not  enter  into  competi- 
tion with  the  Ohio  Valley  coal,  the  advantage  of  quality  always  bei*ng 
in  favor  of  the  Appalachian  coal  at  from  $1.25  to  $2.25  ]ier  ton.  All 
the  advantage  of  a  vast  unrestricted  market  will  accrue  to  this  valley 
from  the  construction  of  the  Nicaraguan  Canal, 

The  Chairman.  What  is  the  estimated  consumption  of  the  Pacific 
( 'oast  of  coal? 

(Tovernor  INTacCorkle.  As  I  understand,  you  mean  the  Pacific  Coast 
of  the  United  States.  According  to  Mr.  Saward,  probably  the  most 
eminent  authority  we  have  on  the  coal  trade,  the  tonnage  last  ye.ar  for 
San  Francisco  was  1,000,000.  Out  of  this  tonnage  only  about  500,00() 
tons  came  from  the  United  States;  this  included  about  150,000  tons 
from  Seattle  and  about  200,000  tons  from  Diablo  and  Coos  ]>ay.  The 
rest  camefromBritishterritory,including050,000  fromBritish  Columbia, 

1  would  think  that  the  consumption  along  the  coast,  outside  of  this 
city,  would  amount  to  between  000,000  nnd  900,000  tons,  making  the 
consnmption  of  that  coast  nearly  2,500,000  tons.  <  'ontinuing  down  the 
coast  you  will  find  Great  Britain  exported  into  Mexico  140,000  tons,  of 


364  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

wliicli  one-half  canie  in  l)y  tlie  west  coast,  Acapulco  being  a  good  mar- 
ket. From  the  United  States  there  were  shipped  to  Mexico,  according 
to  Mr.  Saward,  about  100,000  tons  of  bituniinons  coal.  The  coal  trade 
of  3Iexico,  upon  a  fair  calculation,  would  develop  through  the  canal  to 
the  extent  of  about  1*50,000  tons  within  two  years.  I  think  this  would 
be  a  very  conservative  estimate.  At  Central  America  the  coal  trade,  of 
course,  would  be  confined  to  the  canal.  The  best  experts  have  calcu- 
lated that  the  canal  aiul  its  shipping  would  annually  require  about 
2,000,000  tons  of  coal.  It  will  naturally  become  one  of  the  great  coal- 
ing stations  of  the  world,  because  there  is  more  money  in  carrying 
iVeight  than  coal.  Upon  a  calculation  which  1  will  give  yon  a  little 
further  on,  you  will  see  that  of  this  2,000,000  tons  of  coal,  at  least  four- 
liltlis  will  be  furnished  by  the  United  States,  for  the  reason  that  we  can 
jtlace  the  coal  at  Panama  or  at  the  Pacific  end  of  the  Nicaraguan  ('anal 
for  less  than  $4.  It  is  costing  to-day  by  normal  rates  from  Europe  $10 
to  -"Bll. 

Now  as  to  South  America,  Great  Britain  shipped  to  Peru  last  year 
44,000  tons.  There  was  from  her  own  mines,  from  Australia,  and  from 
Germany  between  three  and  four  tinu^s  as  much  more,  which  would  be 
150,000  to  200,000  tons,  of  which  amount  at  least  one-half  would  come 
from  the  United  States.  Chile  received  340,000  tons  last  year  from 
Great  Britain.  There  were  shipped  into  her  by  other  nations  at  least 
100,000  tons,  making  440,000  tons  last  year.  The  United  States  should 
have  at  least  half  of  this  tonnage  of  coal.  Therefore,  including  the 
2,000,000  tons  used  on  the  canal,  of  which  one-half  will  be  stationed  for 
consumption  on  the  i'acific  Coast,  to  the  whole  Pacific  Coast,  from  Cali- 
fornia to  Chile,  there  were  imported  4,000,000  tons  of  coal.  With  the 
calculation  as  to  price,  as  I  have  shown,  it  seems  to  me,  and  I  believe 
to  everyone  who  understands  the  question,  that  there  should  pass 
through  this  canal  about  the  first  year  or  two  from  the  Appalachian  coal 
held  the  vast  amount  of  2,000,000  tons  of  coal. 

I  have  discussed  the  mere  region  of  the  Pacific  Coast,  but  it  is  only 
a  very  small  part  of  the  world  which  will  be  controlled  by  onr  coals. 
As  soon  as  we  turn  our  attention  to  the  markets  of  the  world,  particu- 
larly those  of  South  America  and  the  Pacific  Coast,  a  vast  trade  region 
will  be  opened  up,  which  is  to-day  controlled  by  our  British  comi)etitors. 
At  JMaranham,  Bra/il,  the  distance  is  8,800  miles  from  Newport  News, 
a  middle  Atlantic  seaport.  There  Cardifl'  coal  costs  them  -ii<12.  We 
can  give  them  coal  at  about  $5.  At  Pernambuco,  British  and  German 
coal  is  used  at  $11  to  $15  per  ton.  Including  4,080  miles  of  transporta- 
tion from  New  Orleans,  we  can  sell  them  coal  at  $5.50  per  ton.  At 
Montevideo  the  British  coal  costs  $13  per  ton.  We  can  put  the  A])pa- 
lachian  coal  in  that  market  at  $8  per  ton.  At  Acapulco,  INFexico,  Car- 
diff coal  costs  them  $20  per  ton.  This  market  is  only  2,200  miles  from 
New  Orleans,  and  we  can  place  our  coals  there  at  $5  i)er  ton.  At  Callao, 
Peru,  Cardiff  coal  costs  $15  per  ton.  This  market  is  2,984  miles  from 
New  Orleans  and  3,455  miles  from  Newport  Kews,  and  we  can  ])lace 
coal  there  at  $0  per  ton.  Valparaiso,  Chile,  uses  Australian  coal,  which 
costs  $8  per  ton.  This  is  4,200  miles  from  Newport  News,  and  we  can 
])lace  our  coals  there  at  from  $5.00  to  $(5  per  ton. 

From  the  mouth  of  the  Kanawha  Uiver,  in  West  Virginia,  to  New 
Orleans,  the  operator  has  the  cheapest  transjiortation  in  the  world. 
The  transportation  on  the  Ohio  and  ^lississippi  rivers  is  the  cheapest 
iidand  transijortation  in  the  world.  Thei)lan  in  operation  is  by  steam- 
boat and  barges,  such  barges  carrying  from  10,000  to  15,000  bushels, 
and  averaging  about  500  tons.     On  the  Ohio  Kiver  a  towboat  will 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  365 

carry  a  fleet  of  about  30  barges  of  about  500  tons,  or  about  375,000 
bushels.  This  vast  fleet  is  handled  by  one  ('Oini)arative]y  small  steam- 
boat, aud,  as  is  Avell  observed  by  an  authority  on  such  matters,  each 
one  of  these  fleets  would  make  30  trains  of  25  cars  each,  or  a  continu- 
ous line  of  cars  about  5^  miles  long.  When  at  Xew  Orleans  or  the 
mouth  of  the  Mississippi,  the  coal  is  elevated  into  seagoing  vessels  and 
shipped  to  its  ])oint  of  destination. 

By  the  construction  of  the  canal,  instead  of  the  long  tempestuous 
route  nronnd  Cape  Horn,  with  all  of  its  un(;ertainties  arising  from  the 
perils  of  navigation,  there  will  be  a  comiiaratively  short  run  from  the 
mouth  of  the  IMississipjii,  across  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  through  the  canal, 
and  up  the  Pacific  Coast,  amounting  to  only  4,000  miles  as  against  the 
15,000  miles  Journey  which  easterii  products  are  to-day  com])elled  to  take. 
A  very  small  calculation  will  show  our  ability  to  undersell  the  other  coals 
spoken  of  elsewhere.  Our  coals  cost,  as  J  have  said  before,  from  05  to 
85  cents  per  ton  at  the  pit  mouth.  It  costs  about  80  cents  i>er  ton  trans- 
portation to  the  mouth  of  the  IMississippi.  The  tollage  through  the 
canal  will  amount  to  about  $1,  leaving  4,000  miles  for  ocean  transporta- 
tion, we  will  allow  from  $2  to  $4  per  ton.  This,  at  $2  ])er  ton,  is  one- 
twentieth  of  a  cent  per  ton  per  mile,  or  double  that  at  -^4  per  ton.  The 
rates  from  San  Francisco  to  Liverpool  are  from  $7.50  to  $10  for  15,000 
miles.  This  is  from  flve-hundredths,  or  one-twentieth,  to  six  and  one- 
half  hundredths  of  a  cent  per  ton  per  mile;  the  reduction  in  rates  will 
be  i»ro[)ortionate  on  reduced  distances.  This,  with  insurance  and  inci- 
dentals, will  bring  the  cost  of  a  ton  of  the  best  Appalachian  coal  to 
from  $4.50  to  $0.60  at  San  Francisco. 

That  this  is  a  fair  statement  is  evidenced  by  the  fact  that  the  sailing 
vessels  carry  coal  at  from  $7.50  to  $9  per  ton  around  the  Horn,  a  dis- 
tance of  about  15,000  miles.  The  canal  saves  about  two-tljirds  of  the 
distance.  This  statement  is  borne  out  by  the  price  of  Eastern  coal  at 
San  Francisco;  the  last  cjuotation  was  from  $0  to  $10  per  ton.  I)y  this 
route  we  will  have  largely  the  advantage  in  mileage  of  the  Welsh  aud 
English  coals. 

Mr.  Be:\'NETT.  Have  you  estimated  any  canal  rate  in  passing  through 
the  canal? 

Governor  MacCorkle.  I  have  always  estimated  that  we  ought  to  put 
this  at  from  $1  to  $1.50.  1  think  that  on  a  cheap  merchandise,  like  coal 
and  nitrates,  the  rate  could  be  placed  from  $1  to  $1.50.  In  the  Suez  it 
was  reduced  to  between  $1.80  and  $1.90,  and  I  think  they  will  steadily 
reduce  this  rate.  They  could  reduce  it  on  the  Suez  Canal,  and  still 
have  a  large  per  cent  in  excess  of  a  reasonable  rate.  I  will  discuss  the 
question  a  little  later  on. 

]\rr.  Be]Sinett.  As  I  understand,  you  could  afford  to  use  the  canal  at 
a  toll  of  $1.50? 

Governor  IMacCorkle.  Yes,  sir;  we  could  use  it  at  $1,510,  and,  upon 
a  calculation  which  I  made  a  few  moments  since,  we  could  go  as  high  as 
$2  in  the  carrying  of  coal  and  undersell  the  coals  marketed  upon  the 
Pacific  Coast. 

Mv.  DooLiTTLE.  That  leaves  you  a  margin  of  over  $3? 

Governor  MacCorkle.  Yes,  sir;  you  could  put  it  at  $2  toll  through 
the  canal.  We  will  have  by  far  the  advantage  of  any  other  coals  by 
shipping,  even  if  we  do  not  utilize  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  rivers,  for 
we  can  place  coal  at  i^ewport  Kews,  Baltimore,  or  Norfolk,  which  are 
the  three  great  ports  of  the  Ohio  Valley,  at  $1.80  jier  ton,  and  ship  it 
by  vessels  through  the  canal,  and  undersell  any  other  coal.  To-day  we 
are  shipping  coal  by  rail  300  or  400  miles  to  Baltimore,  Norfolk,  aud 


366  NICARAGUA   CANAL. 

Newport  News,  sending  it  around  Capo  Horn  and  delivering  it  at  San 
Fraiieisco  (a  Avater  run  of  nearly  ir),()00  miles)  at  $U  to  $10 per  ton.  How 
incalcnlablo  will  bi'our  advantage  wlicn  this  tempestuous  and  extended 
oeean  voyage  is  reduced  from  15,000  to  5,000  miles. 

Mv.  DuuLiTTLE.  What  is  the  distance  lioni  the  coal  lields  to  Newport 
News'? 

(Jovernor  ^IacOurkle.  About  4{)()  miles. 

Mv.  1>U()LITTLE.  What  is  the  cost  per  ton  per  mile,  generally  si)eak- 
ing  ? 

(Jovernor  JNIacCohkle.  About  one- fifth  of  a  cent.  As  I  said  above, 
we  ])ut  the  coal  on  shipboard  at  Newport  News  at  $1.80  per  ton. 

]\lr.  DooLiTTLE.  What  is  the  traffic  on  the  Ohio  liiver  ? 

Governor  MacCoekle.  It  is  about  one-twentieth  of  1  per  cent,  as  I 
ha\  e  said  above. 

Mr.  Joy.  And  that  is  all  the  way  down  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi,  too? 

(iovernor  MacCokkle.  Yes,  sir;  this  ajjplies  from  the  Pittsbnyg 
distri(;t  to  New  Orleans — that  is,  when  the  coal  operator  owns  both 
barges  and  steamboat. 

A  fair  illustration  of  what  we  can  do  was  best  seen  in  ]March,  1S'J5, 
when  the  Davis  and  h^ll^ins  ndnes  of  West  Vii-ginia  coaled  our  war 
ships  at  Trinidad.  Coal  there  costs  about  >fl  to  $8  per  ton.  We  placed 
it  on  the  ships  at  $5.85,  and  on  the  other  side  of  the  Istlunus  our  war 
shii)S  paid  about  $11  i)er  ton,  A\'e  can  place  it  there  very  easily  for 
less  than  $5.  The  Navy  Department  saved  from  the  above  mentioned 
transaction  alone  $50,000. 

These  are  a  few  illustrations  of  what  can  be  done  in  the  way  of  tak- 
ing control  of  the  great  West  Indian  market  and  of  the  markets  of  the 
Pacilic  Coast  and  of  South  America.  After  all  of  their  investigations 
and  after  all  the  vast  ex})enditureof  money  by  capitalists  interested  in 
the  South  American  Continent  and  the  I'acific  Coast,  no  coals  have 
been  discovered  which  are  in  any  way  comparable  with  ours. 

Let  us  discuss  the  (picstion  of  distance  between  the  Appalachian 
coal  field  and  its  conii)etitors.  The  Japan  coals  are  comj>elled  to 
undergo  a  voyage  of  4,701  miles  irom  Yokohama  to  San  Francisco. 
Australian  coals  travel  from  Sidney  to  San  Francisco,  0,514  miles. 
From  Newjiort  News  to  San  Francisco  it  is  about  4,500  miles;  from 
New  Orleans  to  San  Francisco  it  is  4,047  miles;  from  Liverpool  it  is 
7,500  miles;  from  New  York  it  is  5,000  miles;  from  Fort  Townsend  to 
Valparaiso  it  is  5,840  miles;  from  Newport  News  to  Vali)araiso  it  is 
4,400  miles.  These  distances  are  through  the  Nicaraguan  Canal. 
Thus  you  will  see  that  we  have  the  advantage  over  the  Japanese  coals; 
al)out  2,000  miles  advantage  over  the  Australian  coal;  about  3,000 
nn'les  advantage  over  the  British  Island  coal. 

Our  advantage  is  further  em])hasized  by  the  comparison  of  distance 
between  Port  Townsend  and  Newport  News  with  Vali)araiso.  1 1  is  con- 
fulently  exi)ected  by  the  great  coal  companies  of  the  Cammox  and  Wel- 
lington fields  in  Vancouver  that  they  will  supply  the  whole  western 
market  of  South  America. 

Ly  the  canal  taking  Valparaiso  as  a  point  on  the  western  coast  of 
South  America  we  will  have  1,L'00  miles  at  least  advantage  in  distance 
over  the  Vancouver  Island  coals.  In  other  words,  with  the  canal  con- 
structed, neither  Englaml,  Vancouver  Island,  Australia,  nor  Japan 
should  be  able  to  sell  a  ])ound  of  coal  within  the  borders  of  the  United 
States. 

The  high  price  of  the  A'ancouver  Island  coal  in  San  l'4ancisco  is  caused 
by  the  high  price  of  mining,  as  it  is  only  a  distance  of  700  miles  naviga- 
tion. 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  367 

Ultimately,  ^Mexico  and  the  South  Americau  States  will  be  great  pro- 
diieers  of  iron  and  form  there  a  ready  and  needed  market.  In  almost 
every  case  we  can  ship  onr  coals  and  coke  to  the  regions  needing  them 
more  cheai)ly  than  they  can  be  mined  in  those  countries.  In  Mexico 
there  are  some  splendid  deposits  of  ir<m  ore.  In  many  instances  these 
ores  will  yield  more  than  00  per  cent  of  the  metallic  iron.  Such  is  the 
case  in  Pern,  Chile,  Venezuela,  and  Brazil.  In  all  of  these  States 
there  are  great  deposits  of  iron  ore  and  our  cheap  fuels  will  be  abso- 
lutely necessary  for  their  development. 

Many  of  the  South  American  States  have  within  their  limits  splendid 
gold,  silver,  lead,  and  quicksilver  deposits,  which  will  be  oi)ened  soon 
to  the  world's  commerce.  In  this  rich  region  our  coals  will  most  cer- 
tainly phiy  the  important  part.  Should  we  not  be  ready  to  take  advan- 
tage of  the  certain  opening  of  these  great  markets?  It  is  the  duty  of 
everyone  interested  in  the  develo])ment  of  the  Ohio  Valley  to  see  that 
this  canal  is  constructed,  and  in  the  mere  (juestion  of  coal  alone  there 
would  be  a  trade  evolution  throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  the 
valley  watered  by  the  Ohio  liiver, 

I  have  alone  discussed  the  (piestion  of  the  production  of  coal  in  the 
Ohio  Valley  and  the  possibility  of  new  markets  for  the  reason  that  a 
general  discussion  of  the  advantages  which  Avould  accrue  to  the  Ohio 
Valley  would  take  too  nuicli  time  and  space;  but  the  ai)plication  of  the 
discussion  oi'  coal  can  be  made  to  the  vast  number  of  products  in  this 
great  valley. 

ISToAN',  as  a  matter  of  fact,  for  the  proper  development  of  our  great  coal 
regions,  new  markets  nuist  be  opened.  Our  production  and  consump- 
tion must  be  extended.  Such  is  the  condition  of  atfairs  to  day  from  our 
restricted  market  that  last  year  the  Pennsylvania  miners  only  worked 
about  two  hundred  days  in  the  year,  and  the  Ohio  miners  worked  one 
hundred  and  seventy-four  days.  This  statement  is  further  emphasized 
by  the  figures  of  the  total  production  in  the  United  States.  In  1804 
the  total  number  of  men  employed  in  coal  mining  was  37(),L'0C,  who 
worked  only  an  average  of  one  hundred  and  seventy-eight  days,  slightly 
more  than  half  time.  This  one-half  time  labor  and  the  present  devel- 
opment of  this  great  resource  of  national  wealth  is  sulticient  for  our 
present  markets.  For  the  i)rotectiou  of  this  vast  body  of  intelligent 
laborers,  and  as  an  incentive  to  the  development  of  our  great  coal 
regions,  it  is  absolutely  imi^ortant  for  us  to  command  the  nuirkets  of 
the  world.  It  is  not  just  that  witli  our  vast  creative  energy,  with  our 
ability  to  compete,  that  this  great  production  should  be  contined  strictly 
to  home  market.  By  what  means  can  we  obtain  this  market  so  easily 
as  through  this  canal,  which  will  allow  us  to  go  into  the  South  Amer- 
ican market,  and  which  wilWxllow  us  to  compete  in  our  own  country  with 
the  Japanese,  the  British  Columbian,  the  Australian,  and  the  English- 
man ?  With  our  cheap  initial  cost  of  production,  the  foreigner  should 
not  be  able  to  compete  with  us  in  the  production  of  coal. 

Mr.  DooLiTTLE.  Do  you  not  believe  that  mining  would  be  stiuuilated 
by  the  construction  of  the  canal? 

Governor  MacCorkle.  Immensely.  The  trouble  ofthe  Pacific  Coast 
is  that  you  are  being  killed  by  the  w^ant  of  fnel.  You  can  not  manu 
facture  cheaply  with. coal  at  ^8  to  $10  a  ton. 

Mr.  Joy.  Digressing  from  the  question  of  coal,  have  you  considered 
what  amount  of  commerce  from  Eastern  seaport  States  will  pass  through 
the  canal  for  the  Western  coast  of  the  United  States  and  South  America 
or  for  Japan  and  the  eastern  countries'?  Have  you  considered  what 
that  will  amount  to  per  year,  what  it  will  consist  of,  and  w  hat  countries 


368  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

it  will  embrace'?     I  will  be  glad  to  liave  your  views  on  this  general 
qnestiou. 

Governor  ]\IacCoekle.  Yes,  sir;  I  Lave  considered  that qnestion.  1 
come  prejiared  today  to  bring-  an  argnmeiit  belore  llie  committee  to 
sliOAv  exclusively  that  this  coal  ([uestion  is  one  of  the  most  important, 
and  to  show  the  committee  that  the  United  States  should  absolutely 
control  its  own  coal  traftic,  and  that  to  mean  to  do  so  is  by  constructing 
tliis  canal;  but  I  Avill  take  pleasure  in  giving  yon  my  views  of  this 
question.  It  is  very  hard  to  make  calculations  as  to  increase  of  tratlic, 
especially  increase  of  traffic  in  this  free  country  of  ours.  All  the  ques- 
tions of  increase  of  traffic  in  the  Suez  Canal  have  been  entirely  done 
away  with  by  the  reality.  This  is  the  case  in  the  comparatively  well- 
settled  mercantile  countries  of  Europe.  How  can  we  make  any  compar- 
ative basis  when  we  consider  the  lihenomenal  development  of  this 
country?  The  tonnage  of  the  world  today  amounts  to  nearly 
70.()0(),(>00,00()  tons.  In  abont  twenty  years  it  has  been  increased  from 
20,00(1,000,000  tons. 

It  is  aluiost  incalculable  the  amount  i)f  traffic  which  is  absolutely  in 
the  control  of  the  American  canal.  I  will  give  it  as  near  as  I  can,  so 
that  we  can  appreciate  its  innnensity.  The  trade  of  Great  Britain  with 
Ecuador,  Peru,  Chile,  and  Bolivia,  w^hich  last  year  amounted  to  about 
$50,000,000,  is  absolutely  tributary  to  this  canal.  The  trade  on  the 
Atlantic  and  Pacific  coasts  is  trilnitary  to  this  canal,  and  amounted  in 
1890  to  80,000,000  tons.  The  trade  of  Belgium  with  Peru;  the  trade 
of  our  Atlantic  ports  with  Hongkong,  China,  Japan,  I>ritish  Australia, 
Philippine  Islands,  and  Sandwich  Islands;  with  Chile,  Peru,  and  Ecua- 
dor, which  last  year  amounted  to  about  $55,000,000;  the  trade  of  the 
Pacific  ports  of  the  United  States  w^ith  Belgium,  Prance,  Germany, 
Great  Britain,  with  Cul)a  amounted  to  abont  $25,000,000,  all  together 
amounting  to  the  vast  aggregate  of  $130,000,000,  not  including  the 
traffic  between  the  Athiutic  and  Pacific  oceans.  There  is  also  a  vast 
amount  of  trade  which  is  largely  tributary  to  the  canal,  but  this  traffic 
is  absolutely  tributary  to  the  canal.  Its  only  passageway  is  through 
the  canal. 

Every  economic  and  trade  law  demands  that  through  this  canal  this 
vast  commerce  will  go.  Therefore,  looking  at  this  commerce  as  seeking 
its  destination  by  the  cheapest  and  quickest  rimte,  liowcan  any  sensible 
and  disinterested  person  for  one  moment  conceive  that  the  traffic  through 
this  canal  will  be,  as  some  wiseacres  have  put  it,  only  to  the  extent  of 
2,000,000  tons  a  year  ?  Now  there  is  a  large  trade,  a  great  part  of  which 
will  go  through  this  canal.  It  is  not  absolutely  tributary,  but  part  of  it  is 
almost  certain  to  go  through  the  canal.  There  is  every  reason  to  believe 
that  a  large  amount  of  the  return  commerce  between  Great  Britain  and 
her  Eastern  colonies  Avill  pass  through  the  canal.  There  is  also  a  large 
amount  of  the  English  traffic  returning  from  the  East  Indies,  which, 
instead  of  going  to  London  and  being  reshipped  to  Ncav  Y^ork,  will  be 
left  at  New  York,  and  the  vessel  at  this  city  will  reload  on  its  way  to 
London.  Such  merchandise  as  plumbago  from  Ceylon, braid  from  China 
will  be  unloaded  at  New  York  and  not  sent  on  to  London,  The  trade 
whi(;h  1  mention  as  largely  tributary  is  the  trade  of  Great  Britain  with 
Hongkong,  New  SoutlTWales,  (Queensland,  South  Australia,  Victoria, 
Western  Australia,  New  Zealand,  Tasnmnia,  Java,  Pliilii)pine  Islands, 
China,  and  Japan,     This  trade  last  year  amounted  to  $350,000,000, 

There  is  to  be  added  to  this  estimate  the  trade  of  France  with  Japan 
and  Chile,  wddch  amounted  last  year  to  $23,420,000;  the  trade  of  (Ger- 
many with  Australia,  $5,022,000;  with  Japan,  $3,005,000,  and  Chile, 


NICARAGUA   CANAL. 


369 


$26,439,000,  wliicli  togotlier  last  year  amounted  to  over  $35,000,000, 
aud  the  trade  of  our  Atlantic  ports  with  the  British  East  Indies,  French 
East  Indies,  Dutch  East  Indies,  and  Central  America,  which  together 
hist  year  amounted  to  over  $43,000,000.  The  whole  amount  of  this  last 
trade  aggre<;ates  over  $450,000,000,  and  a  large  part  of  this  must,  by 
the  law  of  distances,  seek  its  destination  through  the  waters  of  this 
canal. 

The  trade  of  Chile,  Peru,  and  Bolivia  with  England  will  take  its  course 
through  the  canal,  as  tlie  journey  between  Bolivia  and  Liverpool  will  be 
shortened  4,009,  and  Valparaiso  and  Liverpool  2,144  miles. 

Mr.  Joy.  Have  you  calculated  how  much  tonnage  will  jiass  from  west 
to  east  through  tlie  canal,  from  the  Pacific  Ocean  through  to  the  western 
coast  of  Europe,  and  the  Eastern  coast  of  the  United  States"? 

Governor  ]\IacCoekle.  Yes,  sir;  to  some  extent  I  have  calculated 
the  amount  of  trahic  passing  from  the  Western  coast  to  the  Eastern 
coast.  The  foreign  commerce  of  San  Francisco  has  grown  to  l)e  as  large 
as  the  foreign  commerce  of  the  United  States  between  1820  and  1830. 
The  great  disadvantage  under  which  the  Pacific  Coast  labors  is  that  it 
is  about  as  great  a  distance  from  the  Pacific  Coast — San  Francisco,  for 
instance — to  Liverpool  as  it  is  to  New  York.  The  Pacific  Coast  has  the 
finest  timber  in  the  world.  This  is  becoming  exhausted  in  the  East,  but 
we  are  compelled  to  have  it.  You  have  ou  the  Pacific  Coast  25,000,000 
acres  of  splendid  timber.  Washington  last  year  put  out  1,800,000,000 
shingles.  It  is  too  far  to  ship  them  around  the  Horn,  and  the  railroad 
haul  is  too  expensive.  We  need  spar  lumber  and  ship  lumber,  all  of 
which  must  eventually  come  from  the  Western  coast.  In  1893  you 
shipped  from  Puget  Sound  80,428,339  feet  of  lumber.  About  12,000,000 
of  this  went  to  Great  Britain.  Every  foot  of  this  lumber  will  go  through 
the  canal,  as  it  costs  from  $10  to  $11  by  the  Horn  by  sail  and  $20  to 
$25  by  steam.  The  loresent  capacity  of  mills  of  Puget  Sound  is 
1,000,000,000  feet  per  annum.  This  will  open  up  the  greatest  traflhc  on 
the  Western  coast  in  connection  with  the  East. 

Senator  Squire  estimates  that  the  State  of  Washington  alone  has 
200,000,000  tons  of  wheat  per  annum.  There  were  exported  last  year 
from  Puget  Sound,  San  Francisco,  and  Willamette,  Oreg.,  about  20,- 
000,000  bushels  of  wheat.  With  the  exception  of  about  150,000  bush- 
els, this  was  all  tributary  to  the  canal.  From  the  same  towns  there 
were  shipped  last  year  1,300,000  barrels  of  flour.  Every  xjound  of  this 
merchandise  is  tributary  to  the  canal.  Then,  in  considering  the  esti- 
mate which  has  been  made  of  the  Pacific  Coast  trattic  by  the  promoters 
of  the  canal,  we  find  that  in  the  year  1894  the  export  of  the  articles 
of  green  fruit,  dried  fruit,  raisins,  and  canned  goods  the  estimate  w'as 
much  greater  than  was  calculated.  Senator  White  says  that  the 
State  of  California  produced  in  these  four  articles  alone  last  year 
212,000  tons  of  freight.  He  also  estimates  that  there  were  over  800,000 
gallons  of  brandy  shipped  in  1894  from  California,  every  particle  of 
which  will  be  tributary  to  this  canal.  The  estimate  of  tonnage  I  have 
discussed  in  answer  to  your  first  question. 

I  have  made  some  quite  exhaustive  investigation  of  this  matter,  but 
regret  that  to-day  my  time  is  so  limited  and  I  have  only  come  prepared 
to  discuss  the  question  of  coal  in  its  relation  to  the  Pacific  Coast.  It 
is  utter  and  absolute  nonsense,  I  submit,  upon  the  tacts  and  figures 
which  I  have  here  given  you  to  estimate  that  there  will  be  only  about 
2,000,000  tons  of  trattic  through  this  canal.  From  every  estimate  which 
I  have  been  able  to  make,  it  seems  to  me  that  there  will  be  a  safe  traffic 
through  the  canal  within  the  first  two  or  three  years  of  5,000,000  to 
7,000,000  tons,  which,  in  a  short  time,  will  extend  to  10,000,000  or 
N  c— — 24 


370  NICARAGUA   CANAL. 

12,000,000  tons.  This  is  a  safe  and  1  think  conservative  estimate. 
Olconrse  I  coiikl  give  various  reasons  for  tliis  in  the  saving  of  distances, 
but  the  limits  of  my  discussion  to-day  will  not  permit  me.  I  think, 
however,  that  niy  estimates  are  on  the  side  of  conservatism  and  of  sense. 

Mr.  liENNETT.  What  is  your  estimate  of  the  tonnage  from  the  Ohio 
Valley  south,  including  coal,  cotton,  and  other  articles? 

Governor  MacCorkle.  Of  course,  the  construction  of  the  canal  would 
stimulate  all  the  productions  of  the  South  and  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi 
valleys.  Our  cotton  is  manufactured  in  England.  We  should  send  our 
cotton  directly  to  its  destination,  but,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  we  send  it  to 
Europe  to  be  manufactured,  and  only  get  the  price  of  the  raw  cotton. 
Japan  is  getting  to  be  a  great  manufacturing  nation.  In  a  little  while 
she  will  have  control  of  the  great  part  of  the  manufacturing?  of  the  East. 
She  must  get  her  Cdtton  from  us.  In  1888  she  bought  100,000  j)ouuds; 
in  1801  she  bought  7,000,000  pounds  of  cotton.  She  has  more  than 
1,000,01)0  spindles,  and  her  people  all  wear  cotton. 

We  will  be  nearly  2,000  miles  nearer  Japan  by  thecanal  and  2,000  miles 
nearer  the  northern  coast  of  China  than  England  will  be,  so,  as  a  matter 
of  fact,  the  vast  amount  of  cotton  consumed  in  Japan  should  go  directly 
through  the  canal.  So  it  will  be  with  a  vast  number  of  i)roducts  of  the 
Ohio  and  Mississippi  valleys.  In  1800  China  imported  61,000,000  of 
cotton  goods,  and  only  5,000,000  from  us.  China  will  have  become  a 
great  numufacturing  country,  and  within  a  short  time  a  vast  tonnage 
will  be  in  that  <lirection  through  the  canal.  The  tonnage  on  the  ]Mis- 
sissippi  Iviver  in  1800  was  nearly  30,000,000.  This  will  be  increased 
vastly  when  we  sell  to  the  South  American  countries  the  amount  of 
merchandise  which  our  nearness  to  them  demands  that  we  should  sell. 

Including  coal  from  the  Ohio  Valley  Atlantic  ports,  I  would  estimate 
the  tonnage  of  the  Ohio  and  jMississippi  valleys  and  the  South  at  from 
two  to  two  and  one-half  millions  of  tons  a  year. 

AVhen  we  discuss  the  Ohio  Valley,  we  must  take  into  consideration 
that  this  region  from  every  consideration,  cheapness  of  manufacture, 
locality,  nearness  to  all  the  materials  necessary  to  manufacture,  si)lendid 
climate,  lacility  for  transportation,  bids  fair  to  be  the  great  manufactur- 
ing region  of  North  America. 

We  have  right  by  us  the  splendid  Bessemer  ores  of  the  Lake  Superior 
Ilegion,  the  largest  deposits  of  splendid  coals  of  every  quality  known 
to  commerce.  Upon  the  hills  of  the  Ohio  Valley  we  have  the  greatest 
body  of  hard- wood  timber  in  the  United  States,  while  over  a  great  part 
of  its  area  are  splendid  deposits  of  red  and  brown  hematite  and  red  fossil 
ores  of  high  grade  needed  and  demanded  in  iron  making,  while  above 
all  we  are  in  tlie  temperate  part  of  the  United  States,  with  none  of  the 
great  liuctuations  of  extreme  heat,  or  tremendous  blizzards,  or  parched 
summers  of  many  portions  of  this  country.  The  fact  is  apparent  that 
here  in  the  Ohio  Valley  we  are  situated  in  the  midst  of  the  finest  system 
of  transportation  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  Erom  East  and  West,  and 
North  and  South,  the  aim  of  capital  has  been  to  reach  and  cross  over 
the  marvelous  wealth  of  this  wonderful  valley. 

Our  greatest  need  is  that  the  products  of  our  manufacture  shall  be 
allowed  the  cheapest  and  readiest  connection  with  the  markets  of  the 
earth.  What  has  been  known  in  the  Ohio  Valley,  by  reason  of  its  teem- 
ing soils,  its  fertile  valleys,  and  its  fruitful  hills,  has  been  generally 
looked  on  throughout  the  world  as  a  great  farming  and  agricultural 
section,  chiefly  noted  for  its  vast  quantity  of  waving  grain  and  all  the 
various  cereals  of  the  temperate  zone.  While  this  is  a  marvelously 
rich  section  so  far  as  the  soil  is  concerned,  and  while  only  a  few  parts 
of  the  world  can  comi)ete  with  it  in  the  production  of  cereals,  still  no 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  Oil 

set'tion  of  the  United  States  can  in  anywise  compare  with  the  Oliio 
Valley  in  the  vast  increase  of  its  manufactures.  In  1880  the  manufac- 
turing industries  of  the  Ohio  Valley  were  89,0(10,  while  in  1890  they 
had  increased  to  115,000.  The  manufactured  products  in  1890  amounted 
to  $3,300,000,  about  40  per  cent  of  the  total  manufactures  of  the  United 
States,  as  against  11,791,000  in  1880. 

Pardon  a  few  more  statistics  in  reference  to  this  great  valley.  In 
1890  the  States  of  Pennsylvania,  West  Virginia,  Ohio,  Kentucky, 
Tennessee,  Indiana,  and  Illinois  had  a  population  of  19,328,032,  or  33 
per  cent  of  the  total  i)opulation  of  the  United  States.  These  are, 
strictly  and  technically  speaking,  Ohio  Valley  States.  The  States  of 
Missouri,  Louisiana,  Mississippi,  Arkansas,  Wisconsin,  Miunesota,  and 
Iowa,  which  are  indirectly  dependent  upon  and  contiguous  to  these 
Ohio  Valley  States,  and  are  a  part  of  the  great  Mississippi  liiver  sys- 
tem, had  a  population  of  11,110,152  people,  making  in  the  two  groups 
a  total  of  about  51  per  cent  of  the  whole  poi)ulation  of  the  United 
States,  the  entire  population  being  02,622,250.  Out  of  the  revenue 
collected  in  1890,  the  Ohio  Valley  States  paid  betAveen  30  and  35  per 
cent. 

,  Tn  the  farm  products  of  the  Ohio  Valley  States,  the  census  of  1890 
shows  that  out  of  a  total  of  $2,400,107,455  of  the  total  value  of  farm 
j)roducts  of  the  United  States  the  Ohio  Valley  proper  had  about 
$655,985,797,  or  about  27  per  cent  of  the  total  of  the  United  States. 
The  total  value  of  the  fariw  lands  in  the  United  States  in  1890  was,  in 
round  numbers,  $13,000,000,000 ;  the  value  of  the  farm  lands  of  the  Ohio 
Valley  group  of  States  amounted  in  1890  to  a  total  of  $4,730,000,000, 
or  about  30  per  cent  of  the  total  value  of  the  farm  lands  of  the  United 
States.  In  the  Ohio  Valley  the  total  value  of  farm  implements  in  1890 
amounted  to  $148,000,000,  in  round  numbers,  or  an  increase  over  the 
Census  of  1880  of  20  per  cent. 

The  building  of  this  canal  will  line  the  banks  of  the  Ohio  Kiver  from 
Pittsburg  to  its  mouth  with  every  class  of  manufiicturing  enterprise. 
It  will  cause,  not  alone  the  mere  development  of  manufacturing  indus- 
tries within  its  limits,  but  the  opening  up  of  this  section  through  cheap 
transportation  to  the  markets  of  the  world  will  necessarily  demand  the 
building  of  the  shij)  canal  from  the  Lakes  to  the  Ohio  Piver,  in  order 
that  the  cheap  ores  of  the  lake  regions  can  be  brought  w  here  they  can 
be  manufactured  more  cheaply  than  eksewhere.  It  will  demand  another 
vast  improvement,  to  wit,  the  locking  and  damming  of  the  Ohio  River, 
so  that  at  any  season  of  the  year  the  i)roducts  of  this  region  will  not 
lie  useless  upon  the  banks  of  the  river  for  nature  to  provide  transpor- 
tation, but  through  all  seasons  of  the  year,  by  reason  of  the  great 
imi)rovements  made  by  our  National  Government  in  this  river,  our 
products  may  take  wings  and  fly  to  other  sections  of  the  world. 

This  is  not  mere  prophecy.  The  demand  of  the  world  for  our  prod- 
ucts will  be  increased  immeasurably  when  the  world  linds  that  here  a 
great  majority  of  the  articles  demanded  by  commerce  can  be  more 
cheajdy  created  than  elsewhere,  and  the  demand  will  be  increased  by 
the  cheai)ness  of  the  manufacture.  Cheap  transjjortatiou  will  be  one  of 
the  great  conditions  of  great  sale. 

]Mr.  Noon  AN.  I  hope  you  will  realize  all  you  say,  but  do  you  not 
think  you  are  rather  optimistic  in  your  views?  About  Asiatic  labor  in 
the  production  of  coal — is  not  a  contest  going  on  there  now  between 
these  people? 

Governor  MacCoekle.  Yes,  sir;  but,  as  I  told  you,  we  are  mining 
coal  nearly  three  times  as  cheaply  as  the  Jai)anese. 


372  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

Mr.  NOONAN.  Wliy  ? 

Governor  MacCokkle.  We  have  the  cheapest  coal  and  the  most 
intelligent  labor.  Our  coal  is  very  much  more  easily  mined  and  we 
have  all  the  appliances  to  mine  it  ^Yith.  Every  condition  with  ns  in  the 
production  of  coal  is  better  than  with  them.  It  is  true  the  Japanese 
are  controlling  the  llongkong  market  and  driving  England  out  of  that 
market,  but  1  have  no  (juestion  of  our  ability  to  successfully  compete 
with  them.    They  do  not  alarm  us. 

Mr.  XooNAN.  Erom  your  knowledge  of  the  Japanese,  do  you  not  know 
they  are  very  susceptible  of  improvement? 

Governor  MacCoukle.  They  are  going  to  be  quite  vigorous  com- 
petitors, and  for  that  reason  we  must  have  the  most  unrestricted  means 
of  competition.  In  my  opinion,  the  most  unrestricted  means  of  comi)e- 
tition  is  the  cheapest  communication.  When  we  have  that,  1  have  no 
question  of  our  ability  to  undersell  and  undermanufacture  them  in 
almost  every  field,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  articles. 

]Mr.  NooNAN.  I  think  it  resolves  itself  into  this,  that  when  it  comes 
to  cheap  labor  in  this  mining,  then  the  Asiatics  can  beat  the  Americans 
all  the  time. 

CJovernor  ]VrACCoRKLE.  They  can  on  some  few  things.  In  reference 
to  tlie  production  of  paper,  some  of  the  cheap  cottons,  on  some  lines  of 
pottery,  and  a  few  other  of  similar  lines  of  articles,  they  can  manulacture 
more  clicaply  than  we  can,  but  in  any  of  the  great  lines  of  manufacture,  in 
mining,  in  all  of  the  matters  which  control  the  commerce  of  the  world, 
man  for  man,  our  labor  is  twice  as  cheap  as  Japanese.  I  have  shown 
this,  I  think,  conclusively  above  in  reference  to  the  question  of  mining. 
We  are  mining  coal  cheaper  than  anyone  in  the  world. 

Mr.  NooNAN.  With  the  most  intelligent  labor 

Governor  MacCorkle.  And  therefore  with  the  cheapest. 

Mr.  NooNAN.  And  possibly  as  soon  as  you  get  to  running  coal  through 
the  canal  you  will  have  a  strike  so  you  can  not  mine  it  as  cheap"? 

Governor  MacCoukle.  I  do  not  know.  I  only  know  we  are  mining 
it  cheaper  to  day. 

Mr.  BooLiTTLE.  I  suppose  machinery  has  become  such  a  factor  that 
it  may  largely  control  production? 

Governor  MAcCoiiKLE.  Yes,  sir;  that  is  the  case.  Within  ten  years 
macliine  mining  will  control  hand  mining,  and  outside  of  the  cheapness 
of  labor,  man  for  man,  the  country  Avhich  will  be  able  most  intelligently 
to  use  mine  machinery  will  succeed  in  driving  its  rivals  out  of  the  field. 
Our  people  manage  machinery  better  than  any  people  on  the  face  of  the 
earth,  and  we  are  getting  to  use  machinery  quite  largely  in  Pennsyl- 
vania and  in  West  Virginia,  and  within  ten  years  we  will  use  it  almost 
exclusively.  It  largely  does  away  with  manual  labor  in  the  mines. 
They  have  it  now  arranged  so  that  they  use  a  portable  electrical  appa- 
ratus near  the  mouth  of  the  mine.  We  mine  per  man,  in  the  New  River 
field,  6  to  7  tons  per  <lay.  With  the  machinery  in  the  Pocahontas  field 
the  average  amount  of  coal  undercut  per  hour  was  over  20  tons.  The 
conditions  of  mining  in  England  and  Germany  largely  prevent  the  use 
of  machinery.  Such  is  the  case  in  Japan.  The  reason  of  this  is  that 
our  veins  lie  in  most  instances  above  the  surface,  lie  regularly  and  are 
easily  accessible,  and  the  machinery  can  be  more  cheaply  used. 

I  would  have  been  glad  to  have  discussed  generally  the  subject  of  the 
Nicaragua  Canal  but  thought  it  best  to  confine  myself  to  the  great  sub- 
ject to  which  I  have  largely  devoted  my  time. 

I  am  very  much  obliged  to  the  committee  for  its  courtesy  in  listening 
to  the  matter  so  patiently. 

The  Chairman.  We  are  very  glad  to  hear  you. 


jtlCARAGUA    CANAL.  373 


APPENDIX. 


No.  80,  Broadway,  New  York,  Jnhj  S3, 1895. 

Dear  Sir:  I  understand  from  my  recent  conversations  with  yon  tli at  your  com- 
pany will  shortly  be  able  to  be  in  a  position  to  proceed  with  the  work  of  constrnction 
of  the  Nicaragua  Canal.  In  accordance  with  those  conversations  I  herewith  make 
the  following  preliminary  tender  to  you: 

We  should  be  willing  to  undertake  the  work  at  substantially  the  prices  named  for 
the  different  classes  of  work  by  Chief  Engineer  Menocal  in  his  "  Report  on  the  final 
location  of  the  canal,"  dated  January  31,  1890,  of  which  you  furnished  me  a  copy, 
with  the  following  exceptions:  We  should  want,  instead  of  the  prices  given  by  Mr. 
Menocal,  to  be  paid  at  the  following  rates : 

1.  Clearing per  acre..  $150.00 

2.  Rock  excavation per  cubic  yard..         1.80 

3.  Earth  excavation do .50 

4.  Earth  fills do 50 

5.  Earth  under  water do 3.50 

6.  Rock  under  water do 4.00 

7.  Concrete  in  place do 10. 00 

The  rest  of  the  work  described  in  Mr.  Menocal's  estimates  we  are  prepared  to  exe- 
cute at  his  figures,  which,  with  the  changes  therefrom  last  above  referred  to,  would 
make  the  total  amount  for  which  we  are  prepared  to  build  the  canal,  $70,000,000. 

This  proposal  is  made  in  resi)ect  to  the  whole  canal.  It  can  be  made  to  apply  pro 
tanta  to  the  eastern  section  thereof,  from  Greytown  Harbor  to  the  lake,  thus  exclud- 
ing the  work  covered  by  the  proposals  which  I  understand  you  have  already  received 
for  the  dredging  and  for  the  construction  on  the  western  coast.  I  should  prefer, 
however,  to  make  one  contract  covering  the  entire  work  of  the  canal. 

I  shall  be  prepared  to  give  satisfactory  bonds  for  the  faithful  performance  of  the 
work  within  five  years  from  the  date  of  the  contract. 

It  would  be  necessary  for  you  to  arrange  that  payments  should  be  made  monthly, 
either  in  New  York  or  Greytown  Harbor,  upon  certificates  of  work  done  or  materials 
furnished,  approved  by  the  engineers  of  your  company;  and  I  am  prepared  to  take 
these  contracts  for  50  per  cent  in  cash  and  50  per  cent  in  bonds  of  the  canal  company, 
at  such  price  as  they  may  be  issued  to  any  other  contractors  or  syndicate,  or  in  any 
way  disposed  of  by  your  company;  or,  if  you  choose,  I  am  prepared  to  make  the 
contract  for  cash,  and  I  will  contemporaneously  agree  to  subscribe  for  an  amount  of 
the  bouds  in  any  syndicate  which  you  may  prepare,  which  will  be  etjual  to  half  of 
the  amount  to  be  i>aidme  upon  the  whole  contract,  with  its  pro  rata  of  stock. 

I  shall  1)0  prejiared  to  enter  into  a  formal  and  detailed  contract  with  your  company 
whenever  you  are  in  a  position  to  satisfy  me  that  your  financial  arrangements  have 
been  so  far  perfected  as  to  insure  the  receipt  by  me  of  the  cash  necessary  to  be  paid 
under  such  contract. 

I  ought  to  add  that  I  am  at  present  engaged  under  contract  in  the  construction  of 
a  railway  on  the  island  of  Jamaica,  and  I  expect  to  finish  that  work  about  the  first  of 
the  year.  I  am  now  employing  there  about  8,000  men  with  a  large  plant,  and  if  any 
contract  is  to  be  made  with  yon  I  should  desire  to  have  the  same  perfected  before 
the  1st  of  December,  if  practicable,  so  as  to  arrange  for  the  transfer  of  my  force 
and  plant  directly  from  .Jamaica  to  the  isthmus.  I  feel  safe  in  saying,  if  you  can  show 
me  that  your  financial  arrangements  have  been  consummated,  I  should  have  no  diffi- 
culty in  ])utting  a  force  of  25,000  .Jamaicans  alone  at  work  upon  the  canal  within 
ninety  days  from  date  of  contract. 

In  accordance  with  our  conversation,  I  have  made  this  letter  general  in  terms,  but 
I  think  witli  the  modilications  of  Mr.  Menocal's  figures  above  referred  to,  it  is  suffi- 
ciently specific  to  be  the  basis  of  a  formal  contract  for  the  construction  of  the  whole 
or  a  part  of  the  canal,  if  you  accede  to  my  terms. 
Yours,  very  truly, 

Jas.  p.  McDonald  &  Co. 

John  R.  Baktlett,  Esq., 

Preaident  Nicaragua  Canal  Company,  New  York  CUy,  N.  Y. 


374  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 


EARTH   EXCAVATION  ABOVE   WATER,  WESTERN  DIVISION. 

In  the  western  division,  where  the  rainfall,  thoiij;]!  much  greater  than  in  the 
United  States,  is  mncli  less  than  in  the  eastern  division,  the  cost  of  the  work  is 
more  nearly  comparable  to  that  of  the  United  States. 

The  average  contract  price  of  earth  excavation  from  the  Chicago  Drainage  Canal 
is  not  far  from  30  cents  per  cuhic  yard,  or  for  clay  alone  ahout  25  cents  per  cubic 
yard.  'J'his  worlc  was  executed  mainly  during  the  summer,  because  it  could  not  be 
profitably  carried  on  during  the  unfavorable  weather  of  winter.  Where  the  work 
was  being  executed,  the  banks  of  the  canal  wei'e  level,  making  it  easy  to  move  tlie 
]>laiit  for  wasting  tlie  spoil,  and,  as  noted  by  Mr.  Bates  in  his  interesting  testimony, 
exiierieucc  oil  the  canal  demonstrated  that  the  two  lines  of  railroad  running  on 
either  side  of  the  canal  were  of  inestimable  service.  This,  and  the  proximity  to 
tlie  almost  limitless  mechanical  resources  of  Chicago,  together  with  the  extremely 
low  ]irico  of  fuel  obtained  from  the  vast  coal  fields  of  northern  Illinois,  in  the  imme- 
diate vicinity  (delivered  at  $1.75  per  ton),  render  the  cost  much  less  than  that  of 
similar  work  in  Nicaragua. 

The  addition  of  00  per  cent  to  the  cost  of  work  at  Chicago  to  meet  the  compar- 
atively unfavorable  conditions  of  climate,  rainfall,  cost  of  jdant,  fuel,  and  all 
other  supplies  in  Nicaragua  is  an  extremely  moderate  one.  The  figure  adopted 
by  the  lioard,  40  cents  per  culjic  yard,  is  the  one  which  appears  in  the  company's 
schcilulo  of  ISilO,  and  is  also  the  one  adopted  by  Mr.  Treat  in  his  pro])osal  to  the 
coini>any,  although  under  certain  conditions  wliich  practically  amount  to  a  large 
increase.  In  its  recent  estimate  the  company  has  reduced  this  unit  iigure  to  35 
cents  for  earth  excavation  from  the  canal,  but  has  retained  it  for  excavation  at  locks. 

It  is  usual,  in  receiving  projiosals  for  lock  excavation,  to  ask  for  a  separate  price 
for  pumping.  In  the  present  case  the  cost  of  all  auxiliary  work  is  included  by  the 
comjiany  in  the  unit  price  fior  excavation,  except  in  the  case  of  the  two  tide  locks, 
where  specific  allowance  is  made. 

While  in  the  board's  estimate  the  entire  cost  of  pumping  and  other  auxiliary  work 
is  charged  to  excavation  and  taken  up  in  the  unit  price,  in  this  connection  it  may 
be  well  to  note  that,  anticipating  the  difficulty  involved  in  the  construction  of  lock 
pits  under  heavy  rainfall,  the  chief  engineer,  on  page  89,  states  that  it  can  lie  easily 
met  by  the  construction  of  temporary  sheds  over  the  lock  sites,  but  has  not,  appar- 
ently, undertaken  to  make  an  estimate  of  what  it  will  cost  to  put  under  roof  an  area 
of  SdO  feet  long  by  perhaps  100  or  150  feet  in  width. 

The  unit  ](rices  of  recent  excavations  for  dry  docks  in  the  United  States  may  be 
iiitei'csting  in  this  connection.  At  the  Port  Royal  and  New  York  docks  the  price 
was  60  cents  per  cubic  yard;  at  the  Puget  Sound  dock  the  iirice  of  the  main  pit  was 
.50  cents  per  cubic  yard,  but  greater  jirices  for  special  parts  of  the  Avork  made  the 
average  price  about  60  cents.  In  every  case  an  additional  payment  was  made  for 
l)umi»ing. 

EARTH  EXCAVATION  ABOVE  WATER,  EASTERN  DIVISION. 

It  would  be  difiicnlt  to  imagine  more  unfavorable  conditions  for  excavating  clay 
than  exist  in  the  eastern  division  under  the  tremendous  rainfall  of  nearly  25  feetjier 
year  (in  New  York  3  to  4  feet). 

The  work  in  the  east  divide  is  through  a  continuous  series  of  hiils,  and  after  the 
removal  of  the  clay  the  profile  taken  on  the  surface  of  the  rock  will  be  only  a  little 
less  hilly  than  before.  The  difficulty  of  handling  plant  under  these  conditions  for 
the  removal  of  material  will  be  easily  appreciated,  and  the  addition  of  .50  per  cent 
to  the  price  adopted  for  the  western  division  is  not  excessive.  This  unit  ]uice  includes 
the  cost  of  disposing  of  the  flow  of  the  waters  of  the  Descado  and  Ijimpio,  which 
cross  the  canal  line  fref|uently,  and  during  the  heavy  rains  have  large  volumes  of 
water.  The  importance  of  this  is  very  great,  and  the  entire  lack  of  data  as  to  the 
actual  volumes  renders  it  impossible  for  an  engineer  or  contractor  to  estimate  closely 
the  cost  of  doing  this.  The  rains  which  occur  nearly  every  day  would  cause  the 
entire  suspension  of  work  of  the  same  character  anywhere  in  the  United  States.  In 
ordin.Try  work  an  inch  of  rain  would  involve  temporary  suspension  and  resort  to 
]ium])ing  to  clear  the  site. 

The  cost  of  earth  excavation  for  the  lock  now  in  use  at  the  St.  Marys  Falls  Canal 
was  over  $1  per  cubic  yard,  and  the  contract  was  profitable.  The  contract  price  for 
the  lock  about  to  be  opened  was  43  cents  per  cubic  yard,  and  the  contractors  wore 
in  financial  difficulty  before  the  completion  of  the  work. 

MUD   EXCAVATION  AT  SITE   OP  EMBANKMENTS. 

The  cost  of  this  is  estimated  by  the  company  at  $1  per  cubic  yard,  and  by  the  board 
at  $1.50.     The  figure  adopted  by  the  board  was  obtained  by  cousultatiou  with  a 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  375 

very  competent  contractor,  Mr.  Arthur  McMullen,  of  New  York,  a  portion  of  tliia 
unit  price  l>cing  made  to  cover  the  necessary  cost  of  cutting  off  the  mud  bottoms 
above  and  below  the  site  to  prevent  iuilow  into  the  excavation,  a  cheap  and  ready 
method  of  doing  this  being  suggested  as  the  sinking  of  rough  timber  cribs  tilled 
with  stone  into  the  soft  bottom. 

ROCK  EXCAVATION,  WESTERN   DIVISION. 

The  company's  price  for  rock  excavation  in  the  western  division,  according  to  the 
schedule  of  ISi'lO,  is  $1.25  per  cubic  yard,  reduced  to  $1  in  their  estimate  of  18^15,  pub- 
lislied  for  the  first  time  in  the  report  of  the  Board.  The  hoard  has  adopted  the  com- 
pany's price  of  1890. 

Tlie  price  adopted  by  Mr.  Treat  was  $1.25,  the  same  as  in  the  schedule  of  1890  and 
in  the  estimate  of  the  board,  but  with  certain  conditions,  which,  as  before  mentioned 
with  reference  to  the  price  of  earth  excavation,  made  a  material  increase. 

The  average  contract  price  on  the  Chicago  Drainage  Canal  was  about  75  cents.  The 
conditions  under  which  this  work  would  be  done  in  the  western  division  are  much 
less  favorable  than  at  the  Chicago  Drainage  Canal,  for  reasons  before  given,  and  for 
the  additional  reason  that  the  material  is  largely  hard  volcanic  rock,  which  breaks 
up  much  less  readily,  and  where  the  cost  of  making  the  sides  of  the  canal  smooth,  so 
as  to  be  practicable  for  the  passage  of  vessels,  would  be  considerahly  greater.  At 
Chicago,  as  is  well  known,  competition  is  extremely  keen. 

On  the  eastern  division  the  conditions  are  less  favorable  in  every  way,  and  the 
increase  of  50  cents  to  the  western  division  price  per  cubic  yard  is  a  very  moderate 
allowance  therefor.  The  economic  methods  developed  at  the  Chicago  Drainage 
Canal  will  be  applicable  here  to  a  very  small  extent  only.  The  average  contract 
price  of  rock  excavation  at  the  Chicago  Drainage  Canal  is  about  75  cents  per  cubic 
yard.  The  rock  is  a  soft  limestone,  horizontally  stratified,  which  can  be  drilled 
easily,  which  breaks  up  well  with  explosives,  and  in  which  tlie  sides  can  be  made 
smooth  cheaply  by  channeling  machines.  The  ground  is  level,  the  rock  being  gen- 
erally found  at  the  surface,  and  the  plant  for  the  removal  of  the  material  is  easily 
handled,  to  say  nothing  of  the  unusual  and  extraordinary  facilities  furnished  by 
railways  for  fiirnisbiug  access  to  the  work  on  both  banks. 

The  contract  price  for  the  large  amount  of  rock  excavation  at  the  Jerome  Park 
reservoir,  New  York  City,  placed  under  contract  for  the  last  year,  is  about  80  cents 
per  cubic  yard.  The  rock  is  a  laminated  gneiss,  which  would  be  somewhat  more 
diUicult  to' drill  and  blast  than  the  limestone  in  the  Chicago  Drainage  Canal,  and 
less  so  than  the  so-called  conglomerate  in  the  east  divide. 

EARTH  EMBANKMENTS. 

The  price  adopted  by  the  board  and  that  adopted  by  the  company  in  1895  are  the 
same,  except  that  it  was  found  that  the  excavation  in  the  east  divide  would  not 
supply  a  sufficient  amount  of  clay  for  the  embankments  in  the  San  Francisco  basin. 
An  addition  was  therefore  made  to  cover  the  cost  of  excavating  and  loading  on  cars 
the  required  additional  material.  The  company  made  no  allowance  for  this  unavoid- 
able item  of  cost. 

By  building  considerable  additional  railroad  line  a  portion  of  this  required 
material  could  be  had  from  the  several  short  excavations  for  the  canal  in  the  San 
Francisco  basin,  but  the  cost  would  probably  be  at  least  as  much  as  by  the  method 
considered  by  the  board. 

The  estimate  for  embankment  for  the  San  Francisco  division  in  1890  is  3,250,000 
cubic  yards  at  30  cents.  The  company's  1895  estimate  is  over  6,000,000  cubic  yards, 
using  the  same  unit  price,  without  noting  the  fact  that  the  practical  doubling  of 
the  quantity  will  necessitate  borrowing  to  build  tlie  embankments.  The  board  found 
it  absolutely  necessary  to  make  an  increased  allowance  to  meet  this  additional  cost. 

ROCK  EXCAVATION  UNDER  WATER. 

The  main  body  of  this  work  must  be  done  in  the  upper  30  miles  of  the  San  Juan 
River.  The  company's  unit  price  for  this  in  1890  is  $5,  which  they  reduced  to  $3  in 
their  revised  estimate  of  1895. 

The  cost  of  this  class  of  work  has  been  greatly  reduced  in  recent  years.  The  larger 
part  of  the  work  has  been  done  by  Mr.  Charles  F.  Dunbar,  of  Buffalo,  who  is  the 
inventor  of  devices  by  which  a  large  reduction  of  cost  has  been  effected.  Consider- 
ing Mr.  Dunbar  the  highest  living  authority  on  this  ([uestion,  he  was  consulted  by 
the  board,  and  suggested  the  unit  price  of  $5  to  $6  per  cubic  yard  for  Nicaragua,  and 
the  board  adopted  the  lower  of  his  figures.  Mr.  Dunbar  has  recently  authorized  the 
use  of  his  name  in  this  connection. 

The  low  price  paid  for  this  class  of  work  under  a  current  contract  on  St.  Marys 
River,  Michigan,  viz,  $2.43  per  cubic  yard,  is  not  a  criterion  for  the  coat  of  work  in 


37G  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

Nicaragua.  The  rock  in  the  St.  Marys  River  is  horizontally  stratified  limestone, 
easily  blasted  and  dredgiMl.  The  work  is  done  in  a  more  favorable  climate  and  in 
the  neighborhood  of  all  the  facilities  for  the  supply  and  maintenance  of  the  plant. 

In  adopting  the  lowest  figure  named  by  Mr.  Dunbar  for  work  of  this  class,  the 
board  has  gone  to  the  lowest  limit  which  it  believed  to  be  permissible  under  the 
circumstances,  particuhnly  as  in  the  case  of  the  St.  Marys  River  the  depth  of  exca- 
vation is  only  22  feet,  while  in  the  San  Juan  River  it  is  28  feet  and  over,  and  the 
proper  disposition  to  be  nuide  of  the  material  arises  as  a  question  for  careful  con- 
sideration and  may  involve  special  arrangements  for  guiding  the  flow  of  the  stream 
and  the  maintenance  of  the  channel  depth,  resulting  in  a  practical  increase  of  cost. 

LOCK   CONSTKUCTION. 

It  is  to  be  noted  that  the  company's  project  makes  use  of  no  other  material  in  the 
construction  of  the  locks  than  concrete,  if  the  estimates  are  to  be  followed  in  this 
respect.  The  various  canal  publications  and  statements  indicate  the  use  of  ashler 
masonry  to  some  extent,  and  other  material  which,  however,  are  lacking  from  the 
estimates,  which  provide  only  for  concrete  at  $6  per  cubic  yard.  For  example; 
Mr.  Menocal's  Chicago  pa]ier,  pages  33  and  34,  stated  the  body  of  the  lock  is  to  be  of 
concrete,  with  cut  sfoiio  in  the  miter  sills,  the  hollow  fjuoins,  and  such  angles  as 
need  protection  iVom  shocks.     Of  all  this  nothing  appears  in  the  estimate. 

The  board  has  found  dilHculty  in  understanding  what  the  company  really  proposed, 
as  there  are  absolutely  no  detailed  or  construction  drawings  of  any  kind,  and  in 
forming  its  own  estinuite  and  computing  the  cost  of  these  locks  the  board  was 
forced  to  prepare  for  its  own  use  preliminary  drawings  of  this  kind. 

It  is  evident  that  the  use  of  a  resisting  and  massive  material  is  absolutely  neces- 
sary in  lock  construction,  to  take  up  the  shock  and  friction  due  to  the  passage  of 
large  vessels,  and  the  practice  is  universal  of  using  either  a  very  high  order  of  brick 
masonry  or  the  use  of  solid  cut  stone — limestone  or  granite  of  the  toughest  and  most 
resisting  kind. 

The  use  of  these  materials  is  not  only  necessary  in  connection  with  the  movement 
of  vessels,  but  also  to  insure  tiie  solidity  of  anchorages  for  the  gates  and  other  appli- 
ances in  connection  with  the  operation  of  the  lock. 

The  company  disregards  all  these  considerations  and  uses,  exclusively,  a  concrete 
in  the  proportions,  as  stated  by  the  chief  engineer,  of  one  volume  of  cement,  two 
of  sand,  and  live  of  broken  stone,  at  an  estimated  cost  of  $6  per  cubic  yard. 

Under  the  conditions  existing  in  Nicaragua,  where  there  appears  to  be  an  entire 
absence  of  stone  suitable  for  ashler  masonry,  the  use  of  concrete  for  the  main  walls 
of  the  lock  is  permissible,  and  was  contemplated  in  the  estimates  of  the  board. 
Greater  strength,  however,  should  be  given  to  exposed  angles  by  the  introduction  of 
first-class  stonework.  The  estimate  of  the  Board  covers  the  cost  of  this  material 
for  the  hollow  quoins  only ;  that  is,  the  portions  of  the  walls  in  which  the  posts  of  the 
gates  will  turn.  This  is  certainly  the  minimum  amount  of  this  material  which  should 
be  used,  and  is  much  less  than  in  any  other  known  construction.  Granite  should  be 
used  for  this  purpose,  and  would  have  to  be  transported  from  abroad.  The  cost  of 
this  would  bo  al)out  $60  per  cubic  yard,  which,  of  course,  includes  the  expensive  stone 
cutting  necessary  to  adapt  it  to  its  uses  and  the  special  plant  required  for  laying  it 
in  place. 

It  would  probably  be  judicious  to  use  the  same  class  of  material  at  the  other 
exposed  angles  and  for  the  miter  sills,  as  specified  by  the  chief  engineer  in  his  Chi- 
cago pa]ier,  but  not  provided  for  in  his  estimates. 

In  addition  to  this,  in  view  of  the  unprecedented  dimensions  of  the  locks  as  pro- 
posed, and  the  uncertain  nature  of  the  material  in  which,  of  necessity,  the  locks 
must  rest,  and  the  possiljility  of  the  variation  in  tlie  nature  and  supporting  power  of 
this  material  within  the  limits  of  the  lock  area,  the  board  has  considered  the  possible 
necessity  of  strengthening  the  lower  portions  of  these  structures  by  steel  beams 
embedded  in  the  concrete.  This  is  especially  important  in  view  of  the  tendency  of 
the  middle  of  the  lock  bottom  to  rise  in  consequence  of  the  great  upward  pressure 
from  below  which  can  not  be  counterbalanced  by  the  empty  lock. 

It  appeared  to  the  iioard  that  another  considerable  addition  to  the  estimates  was 
neccssaiy  to  provide  protection  to  the  inner  surfaces  of  the  culverts  for  the  admission 
to  or  discharge  of  water  from  the  lock.  This  might  be  provided  by  a  lining  of  hard 
brick,  or  by  a  metal  lining.     The  estimates  of  the  board  jirovide  for  the  latter. 

Mr.  Wheeler,  the  superintending  engineer  at  the  St.  Marys  Falls  Canal  lock,  in  his 
article  on  lock  coustrucf  i(ui  in  the  Fngineering  News  of  .lune  2,  1803,  makes  a  total 
estimate  for  a  system  of  six  locks  at  Nicaragua,  each  of  36  feet  7  inches  lift,  amount- 
ing to  $1,000,000  for  each  lock  at  United  States  prices,  and  on  the  assumption  that 
the  lock  is  to  be  built  on  a  rock  foundation.  Starting  with  this  figure  of  $1,000,000  for 
the  lock  itself,  adding  $400,000  for  additional  concrete,  to  constitute  a  lock  found.a- 
tion  in  lieu  of  the  rock  considered  by  Mr.  Wheeler,  makes  $1,400,000  at  United  States 


NICARAGUA   CANAL.  377 

prices.  This  totnl  needs  translation  into  Nicaraguan  prices,  for  which  an  additional 
allowance  of  not  less  than  50  per  cent  should  be  made,  making  the  Nicaragua  cost  of 
the  lock,  exclusive  of  excavation  of  the  lock  site,  $2,100,000,  making  a  total  of 
$6,300,000  for  the  three  locks  of  the  eastern  division,  with  which  may  be  compared 
the  total  in  the  company's  estimate  of  $3,236,000,  which  the  board  believes  should  be 
increased  by  the  substitution  of  four  locks  for  three,  with  a  corresponding  total  of 
$7,000,000  as  the  additional  allowance  of  50  per  cent  for  different  conditions  in  Nica- 
ragua may  easily  be  increased. 

CANAL  AND   CHANNEL  DIMENSIONS. — LOCKS. 

The  1890  estimates  were  based  upon  a  lock  width  of  70  feet.  The  next  announce- 
ment of  the  width  occurred  in  the  chief  engineer's  Chicago  paper,  in  which  he 
states  that  the  width  has  been  increased  to  80  feet.  In  his  recent  testimony,  on  page 
73,  he  finds  no  objection  to  this  increase  from  70  to  80  feet,  except  the  cost.  On  page 
86,  referring  to  paragraph  12  of  the  board's  report,  in  which  they  expressed  the 
belief  that  all  locks  should  have  a  width  of  not  less  than  80  feet  if  it  be  intended 
to  provide  for  the  passage  of  war  vessels,  the  chief  engineer  condemns  this  sug- 
gestion as  objectionable,  and  he  regards  it  unnecessary  to  charge  the  enterprise  Avith 
an  excess  of  cost  above  that  required  for  commercial  purposes  in  order  to  permit  of 
the  passage  of  a  few  war  vessels.  This  width  of  80  feet  announced  in  his  Chicago 
paper  in  1893,  has  been  rejieated  in  all  recent  publications  of  the  company,  and  is 
now  repudiated  and  condemned. 

The  board  adhere  to  its  belief  that  80  feet  should  be  regarded  as  a  minimum  width, 
in  view  of  the  use  by  the  United  States  Government  of  the  canal  to  facilitate  the 
movements  of  its  Navy  and  the  control  of  the  work  in  case  of  war. 

On  pages  58  and  65  of  his  testimony  the  chief  engineer  mistatcs  the  dimensions 
of  the  Suez  Canal.  He  gives  the  depth  at  26  feet,"and  the  width  as  less  than  100 
feet.  As  a  matter  of  iact  the  least  depth  in  the  Suez  Canal  at  this  time  is  27  feet 
10  inches,  and  for  the  most  part  it  is  29  feet  6  inches,  and  the  administration  pro- 
poses an  ultimate  depth  of  32  feet  10  inches. 

The  canal,  as  constructed,  was  72  feet  wide,  with  passing  places  excavated  at 
intervals  in  the  bank.  These  passing  places  have  since  been  eliminated  by  the 
widening  of  the  canal  to  110  feet,  this  widening  having  been  completed  with  the 
exception  of  10  or  12  miles  out  of  the  100.  It  is  to  be  noted,  however,  that  even 
with  this  widening  vessels  are  not  permitted  to  pass  each  other  underway.  When 
two  vessels  meet  one  must  go  to  the  bank  and  tie  up  while  the  other  moves  safely  by. 

In  order  to  provide  for  tLie  free  navigation  of  the  canal  and  expedite  the  move- 
ments of  ships  by  rendering  it  unnecessary  for  them  to  stop,  the  administration,  in 
connection  with  the  increased  depth  to  32  feet  10  inches,  provides  for  a  widening  to 
216  feet  on  the  straight  stretches  of  the  canal  and  on  curves  to  242  feet,  these  widths 
being  measured  on  the  bottom  of  the  canal.  With  these  widths  the  company  believe 
that  the  navigation  will  be  free  and  unobstructed. 

These  dimensions  are  to  be  compared  with  the  proposed  dimensions  of  the  Nica- 
ragua Canal,  with  bottom  widths  in  various  sections  ranging  from  120  feet  in  the  sea- 
level  portions  to  100  feet,  with  vertical  sides  in  the  rock  portions,  and  80  feet  at 
several  minor  isolated  sec+ions.  The  depth  is  stated  as  30  feet,  except  in  the  sea-level 
sections  and  in  the  river,  where  for  30  miles  it  is  to  be  28  feet.  From  these  depths, 
however,  as  has  been  previously  noticed,  must  be  deducted  the  variation  from  what 
the  chief  engineer  calls  the  "average  summit  level,"  to  provide  for  the  vertical 
oscillations  of  the  lake  surface.  He  estimates  these  oscillations,  in  one  case,  at  3 
feet,  in  another  portion  of  his  testimony  at  4  feet,  and  in  another  place  states  that 
the  range  of  the  lake  has  been  noted  as  10  feet. 

The  board  has  found  reason  to  believe  that  the  lake  has  varied  so  much  as  14  feet; 
Menocal  admits  10,  but  no  systematic  observations  have  ever  been  made  to  determine 
the  lake  regimen,  iipon  which  depends  that  of  the  river. 

With  a  range  of  4  feet  the  28-foot  river  channel  becomes  but  a  26-foot  channel,  in 
which,  allowing  for  2  feet  as  a  minimum  below  the  keel  of  a  vessel,  nothing  deeper 
than  a  24-foot  ship  can  pass.  Should  this  range  amount  to  so  much  as  5  feet  the 
maximum  depth  becomes  23i  feet.  If  it  be  found  impossible  to  control  the  oscilla- 
tions of  the  lake  within  less  than  10  feet  the  reduction  in  depth  in  the  channel  will 
be  5  feet,  and  nothing  deeper  than  a  21-foot  shij)  can  pass.  In  each  of  these  cases 
the  channel  would  be  impassable  for  heavy  war  ships,  as  well  as  for  trading  vessels, 
the  increasing  dimensions  of  which  experience  has  shown  can  be  more  economically 
run  with  large  dimensions  than  with  smaller. 

In  the  case  of  the  Suez  Canal,  with  the  minimum  depth  of  27  feet  10  inches  now 
existing,  the  maximum  draft  of  vessels  permitted  in  the  sandy  bed  of  that  water- 
way is  25  feet  7  inches,  leaving  2  feet  and  3  inches  between  the  keel  of  the  vessel 
and  the  sand  bottom. 

Objection  is  made  to  the  board's  suggestion  that  the  width  of  the  deepened  chan- 
nel in  the  river  should  be  increased  &om  125  feet,  as  the  company  proposes,  to  not 


378  NICARAGUA   CANAL. 

less  than  250  feet,  with  additional  widening  in  the  bends,  and  the  chief  engineer 
contends  that  in  onr  consideration  of  this  snbjoct  we  have  been  misled  by  our 
acquaintance  with  the  reqnirenients  of  the  lake  navigation,  with  which,  apparently, 
he  believes  that  of  the  Nicaragua  Canal  is  not  justly  comparable. 

As  stated  in  tlie  board's  report  the  minimum  width  for  the  river  and  lake  channels 
on  the  lakes  is  300  feet,  increased  in  places  to  500  and  600  and  even  800  feet.  It  should 
be  observed  that  these  dimensions  were  fixed,  not  recently,  but  many  years  before 
the  lake  traffic  liatl  attained  its  present  proportions,  Avhen  the  vessels  were  much 
smaller  than  now,  of  less  draft,  and  therefore  more  manageable  in  a  narrow  channel, 
and  as  a  whole  very  much  less  than  the  traffic  which  it  is  proposed  to  provide  for  in 
the  case  of  the  Nicaragua  Canal. 

The  St.  Claire  Flats  Canal,  which  forms  the  exit  from  the  St.  Claire  River  into  the 
lake,  a  work  designed  au<l  executed  thirty  or  forty  years  ago,  has  a  width  between 
banks,  wliicli  are  laid  out  straiglit  and  built  of  timber,  of  205  feet,  and  between 
these  vessels  are  restricted  to  a  speed  of  5  ( ?)  miles  an  hour,  and  are  not  permitted  to 
overtake  each  other.  It  is  quite  certain  th.at  in  the  case  of  the  Lake  Nicaragua 
channel,  built  as  proposed  by  the  company,  without  constructed  banks,  no  less  width 
than  300  feet  can  by  any  j)os,sibility  be  estimated  for,  and  the  maintenance  of  this  or 
any  navigable  width  will  recjuire  the  continual  use  of  a  dredging  machine  for  main- 
tenance. 

The  company  in  its  reference  to  this  obscures  the  subject  by  calling  these  river 
channels  canal,  with  which,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  a  deepened  river  channel  without 
banks  can  not,  in  this  respect  be  compared,  and  it  is  to  be  observed  that  the  width 
of  river  channel  proposed  by  the  board  is  little  in  excess  of  that  which  the  intelli- 
gent and  expericmccd  management  of  the  Suez  Canal  believe  to  be  necessary  for  an 
inclosed  channel  with  soft  bottom  and  well-defined  l)anks  and  no  current. 

With  reference  to  the  width  of  the  lake  channel,  which  the  company  now  and  again 
terms  canal, the  board  believes  that  it  has  adopted  an  equally  sound  and  conserva- 
tive view,  nor  is  it  believed  that  on  Lake  Nicaragua,  or  in  any  similar  situation,  a 
channel  of  14  miles  can  be  laid  out  in  the  open  lake  through  the  material  which  it  is 
known  forms  the  bottom  of  the  lake  with  any  less  dimensions  than  those  which  the 
board  has  recommended. 

The  material  has  been  described  as  soft  mud,  ranging  from  a  thick  pea  soup  at  the 
top  to  stiff'er  material  below,  and  it  is  not  believed,  as  before  stated,  that  even  Mr. 
Bates's  magnificent  hydraulic  construction  could  make  a  cut  through  that  14  miles 
and  be  able  to  find  it  had  been  done. 

The  most  recent  proposition  in  this  country  for  providing  an  exit  for  commerce  by 
water  from  the  lakes  to  the  sea,  it  may  be  noted,  projects  a  channel  with  a  minimum 
width  of  300  feet. 

STATEMENT  OP  CIVIL  ENGINEER  MORDECAI  T.  ENDICOTT, 
UNITED  STATES  NAVY,  LATE  A  MEMBER  OF  THE  NICARAGUA 
CANAL  BOARD. 

Mr.  Chairman  and  Gkntlkmrn  op  the  Comimittek:  In  accordance  with  the 
understanding  at  the  time  when  my  oral  examination  before  the  committee  closed 
I  subunt  herewith  a  fiiw  stafements  pertinent  to  some  of  the  criticisms  made  before 
you  of  the  report  of  the  Nicaragua  Canal  Board  of  1895. 

When  Mr.  Noble  and  I  appeared  before  you  at  tliat  time,  at  your  request,  the 
examination  took  directions  leading  to  many  of  the  iioints  with  respect  to  which 
the  correctness  of  the  report  of  the  board  had  been  questioned  or  sought  to  be 
disproved. 

I  shall  avoid  useless  repetition  of  anything  then  said,  or  of  what  Mr.  Noble  has 
embodied  in  his  Avritten  statement,  and  omit  replies  to  criticisms  which  are  of  little 
weight  or  relate  to  matters  of  minor  importance,  confining  myself  to  a  few  matters 
which  seem  to  me  to  be  of  sufficient  importance  to  be  called  to  the  attention  of  the 
committee,  and  which  were  not  previously  stated  by  me  becau.se  of  the  press  of  time, 
and  also  because  1  had  not  then  had  time  to  read  over  carefully  all  of  the  testimony 
given  up  to  that  time,  Ajiril  17,  1896. 

GREYTOWN   HARBOR. 

In  my  oral  testimony  before  the  committee  in  regard  to  the  Greytown  Harbor  I 
explained  briefly  the  reasons  why  I  considered  the  plan  and  location  proposed  by  the 
board  as  superior  to  that  of  the  canal  company. 

It  is  stated  in  Mr.  Mi^nocal's  testimony,  page  71,  that  the  board  accepts  as  correct 
the  principles  on  which  the  ]>lans  proposed  by  the  canal  comjiany  for  the  restoration 
of  the  harbor  are  based.  This  is  correct  only  in  so  far  as  it  relates  to  the  construc- 
tion of  a  pier,  seaward,  for  retarding  the  filling  of  sand  at  the  mouth  of  the  harbor. 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  370 

The  principal  upon  ■which  Mr.  Menocal  buihls,  as  stated  in  his  doscription  of  tho 
Nicaragua  Canal  project,  read  before  the  World's  Columbian  Water  (Commerce  Con- 
gress, Chicago,  1893,  and  in  numerous  other  papers  and  reports,  is  that  the  harbor 
will  be  restored  by  building  a  jetty  perpendicularly  to  the  shore  line,  projecting 
seaward  aboiit  2,000  or  3,000  leet  to  the  G-fathom  curve,  and  dredging  in  its  lea. 

The  shifting  sands,  arrested  by  the  jetty,  are  to  gather  in  tho  east  angle  formed  by 
it  and  the  coast,  and  when  it  has  advanced  to  the  end  of  the  pier,  with  a  tendency 
to  move  around  it,  short  extensions  from  time  to  time  can  bo  made,  until  tlie  now 
coast  line  on  the  east  l)ccomes,  in  its  general  direction,  perpendicular  to  the  prevail- 
ing nortlienst  winds,  when  "  no  further  change  on  the  coast  need  then  be  apprehended 
and  the  ]icrnianent  restoration  of  tlu^  harbor  will  be  accomplished." 

Tliis  ]irincip]e  the  board  has  not  accepted,  as  I  understand. 

To  put  out  a  jetty  to  reach  a  point  from  whicli  a  line  drawn  normal  to  the  north- 
east winds  would  a]iiiroximate  a  direct  extension  of  tlie  coast  line,  within  wliicli  I 
think  the  attainment  of  such  a  line  of  fill  is  exceedingly  problematical,  would 
require  tlie  jetty  to  be  about  3  miles  in  length.  This  would  entail  an  extraordinary 
expense — make  the  cost  greatly  more  than  a  harbor  in  the  location  recommended  by 
the  board,  and,  in  my  oi)iuion,  there  is  no  assurance  of  permanency  when  that  length 
be  reached.  The  investigations  of  the  board  show  a  wasting  of  the  coast  to  tho 
eastward  and  a  tilling  to  the  westward,  and  in  the  bight  of  which  the  Creytown 
Harbor  Avas  originally  a  part. 

The  neutral  ])()int  I)etween  these,  where  there  is  at  present  a  more  nearly  stable 
condition,  is  about  where  the  pier  or  jetty  and  the  harbor  mouth  are  recommended 
to  be  established  by  the  board.  At  this  point  deep  water  is  much  nearer,  and  if  a 
point  is  within  reach  of  a  jetty,  where  the  new  east  coast  line  will  stop  tho  drift  of 
sand,  it  will  be  found  here  at  one-third  of  the  distance  necessary  in  the  location  by 
the  canal  company.  The  sands  drift  into  the  Greytown  bight  from  the  north  as 
well  as  from  the  east,  and  the  company  has  placed  its  works  right  in  the  spot  whei'e 
they  have  to  contend  with  these  forces  in  their  greatest  strength,  because,  as  stated 
by  Mr.  Miller,  they  "naturally  supposed  that  a  good  place  to  make  an  entrance  to 
a  harbor  would  be  where  one  existed  many  years  before." 

I  think  the  bight  will  be  destroyed  inevitably,  and  an  entrance  at  the  point  iiro- 
posed  by  the  company  can  be  kept  open  only  by  dredging  and  annual  extensions  of 
tho  jetty  to  an  extraordinary  length. 

I  see  nothing  in  the  results  attained  when  the  present  pier  was  constructed  to  augur 
permanency  of  entrance  or  restoration  of  the  harbor.  It  only  shows  what  could  be 
attained  it^^  the  drifting  of  the  sands  across  the  entrance  could  be  permanently 
arrested.  How  far  a  jetty  or  pier  would  have  to  extend  to  effect  this,  if  at  all,  was 
not  demonstrated. 

The  location  proposed  by  the  board  will  be  found,  I  am  confident,  to  be  the  cheaper 
for  a  harlior  of  the  same  character  anil  amplitude,  taking  into  consideration  its 
future  maintenance. 

Of  the  objections  to  the  plan  recommended  by  tho  board,  Mr.  Miller  and  Mr. 
Menocal  regard  one  as  conclusive,  namely,  that  it  locates  the  entrance  in  Costa  Kican 
territory. 

Mr.  Miller,  on  page  12  of  the  testimony,  states:  "In  reference  to  the  entrance  to 
the  harbor  being  moved  a  mile  ami  a  half  east,  I  wojild  say  that,  in  the  first  place, 
we  could  not  go  there.  If  we  went  there  we  would  Ije  in  Costa  Kican  territory  and 
our  concession  dcmatKh  that  the  canal  shall  begin  and  end  in  Nicaraguau  territory." 
Mr.  Menocal,  on  page  71  of  the  testimony,  states:  "Tho  Government  of  Nicaragua 
will  not  assent  to  it.  The  canal  concession  provides  that  the  company  xhall  build 
one  first-class  harbor  on  tho  coast  of  Nicaragua  at  each  terminus  of  the  canal,  on 
the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  oceans." 

The  concession  from  Nicaragua,  of  1887,  as  printed  in  House  Eeport  No.  1201,  Fifty- 
third  Congress,  second  session,  states  in  the  decree,  on  pnge  23,  "both  having  sulfi- 
cient  powers,  have  entered  into  the  folio wiiig  contract  for  the  excavation  of  an 
interoceauic  canal  through  the  territory  of  Nicaragua." 

In  Article  XVI,  on  page  2fi,  it  states: 

"The  company  shall  construct,  at  its  expense,  and  maintain  in  good  condition,  two 
largo  ports,  one  in  the  Atlantic  and  one  in  the  Pacific.  *  *  *  It  niai/,  for  this 
purpose,  select  on  the  coasts  of  the  two  oceans,  within  the  territory  of  Nicaragua, 
tho  localities  which  the  surveys  may  indicate  as  preferable." 

In  the  contract  with  Costa  Kica  of  1888,  confirmed  more  than  one  year  subsequent 
to  that  WMth  Nicaragua,  it  is  provided  in  Article  XIV,  page  38,  of  the  same  report, 
No.  1201,  as  follows: 

"The  association  shall  construct,  at  its  expense,  and  shall  keep  in  good  condition, 
two  large  ports,  one  on  tho  Atlantic  and  one  on  the  Pacific,  at  such  points  or  localities 
as  it  may  select  within  or  n-ithoiit  the  territory  of  Costa  Rica,  to  serve  as  termini  of 
the  canal." 

All  the  italics  arc  mine. 


'>'S0  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

Thesft  provisions  do  not  seem  to  mo  to  demand  that  the  ports  or  termini  shall  be 
within  Nicaraifuan  territory.  They  appear  to  me  to  xirovide  simply  that  they  may 
be.     But  this  may  be  a  matter  for  legal  construction, 

DREDGING  AT   GREYTOWN. 

Considerable  effort  has  been  made  to  show,  during  the  hearings  before  your  com- 
mittee, that  the  estimate  of  the  board  of  25  cents  per  cubic  yard  for  the  dredging  in 
(Jreytown  Harl)or,  is  excessive. 

As  explained  in  tli(3  rejiort,  this  estimate  is  based  upon  20  cents  for  the  interior 
Avorlc  and  40  cents  for  work  in  the  entrance,  an  average  of  25  cents  being  used. 

The  dredging  in  Mobile  Harbor,  now  being  done  at  a  cost  of  7^  cents  per  cubic 
yard,  is  most  dwelt  upon  as  evidence  of  an  excessive  estimate. 

Tlio  cost  of  all  dredging  is  dependent  upon  the  conditions  obtaining  at  each 
situation,  else  why  does  it  vary  in  this  country  from  a  few  cents  to  60  cents  per  cubic 
yard?  To  say  tliat  a  cost  of  TJ  cents  at  Mobile  sliould  govern  an  estimate  nt  (Jrey- 
town, without  considering  the  relative  conditions,  is  no  fairer  than  it  would  be  to 
claim  that  the  cost  of  dredging  at  Galveston,  at  60  cents  per  cubic  yard,  within  the 
past  liscal  year,  should  determine  an  estimate  of  60  cents  for  dredging  in  Greytown 
Harbor. 

The  material  in  Mobile  Harbor  being  removed  for  7f  cents  per  cubic  yard  is  classed 
as  90  per  cent  soft  clay — river  mud.  It  is  ideal  dredging,  exactly  adapted  to  appa- 
ratus used — clam-shell  dredges.  The  machinery  is  simple,  easily  and  cheaply  kept  in 
order;  the  fuel  is  cheap ;  the  labor  is  cheap ;  the  situation,  a  smooth  interior  harbor; 
tlui  depth,  extreme,  23  feet;  in  short,  everj^thing  favors  small  cost. 

Another  contract  in  same  harbor,  completed  just  as  the  above  began,  in  materi.al 
60  jier  cent  sand  and  38  per  cent  clay,  was  at  15  cents  per  cubic  yard,  and  one  for 
material  81  ]ier  cent  sand  was  for  16i  cents. 

At  Galveston  the  prices  have  been,  within  a  very  recent  period,  12|^  to  60  cents,  the 
dredging  on  tlie  l»ar  being  35  cents,  all  scow  measurements. 

In  Mobile  the  7|  cents  contract  is  for  the  mud  measured  in  scotcs.  It  probably 
measures  somewhere  from  30  to  40  per  cent  more  in  scows  than  in  the  cut. 

The  dredging  at  Greytown  is  estimated  in  the  cut,  neat  dimensions,  and  the  material 
is  solid. 

Add  to  the  price  for  mud  dredging  at  Mobile  at  7^  cents,  35  per  cent  for  measure- 
ment in  cut  over  measui-emeut  in  scows,  a  proper  increase  for  sand  over  mud,  a 
)>ropcr  increase  for  a  dei)th  of  30  feet  over  one  of  23  feet,  also  increases  for  cost  of 
fuel,  skilled  labor,  the  establishment  of  a  repair-shop  plant  in  Nicaragua,  unfavor- 
able climatic  conditions,  etc.,  and  it  must  be  seen  that  the  price  of  the  inside  work 
would  cost  20  cents  per  cubic  yard,  as  estimated  by  the  board,  upon  the  basis  of  the 
work  now  being  done  at  Mobile. 

The  board  estimated  40  cents  for  outside  work,  also  measured  in  the  cut.  It  is 
costing  35  cents  at  Galveston,  measured  in  scows. 

The  .above  work,  instead  of  vitiating,  really  warrants  the  board's  estimate,  and 
serves  to  point  tlie  error  of  drawing  conclusions  from  prices  iiaid  .at  a  particular 
))()int  without  careful  consideration  of  all  the  circumstances. 

The  l)oard  took  into  view  all  the  conditions  and  endeavored  to  arrive  at  a  fair  and 
reasonable  estimate, 

BENARD  LAGOON, 

With  regard  to  the  change  of  location  of  the  line  to  avoid  the  Benard  Lagoon, 
this  is  only  a  suggestion  of  the  board  in  case  examinations  of  the  lagoon  develop 
conditions  indicjited  at  the  entrance. 

The  possibility  of  iinding  the  conditions  feared  by  the  board  is  not  a  remote  one 
If  they  are  found  we  think  the  line  should  be  changed  to  avoid  it.  Our  estimates, 
however,  are  not  for  a  change  of  line,  but  for  the  present  location  of  the  company. 

OCHOA  DAM, 

In  oral  testimony  before  the  committee,  and  in  his  written  statement,  Mr.  Menocal 
makes  a  very  elaborate  defense  of  this  dam,  as  it  was  proposed  to  be  built  l)y  the 
canal  company,  and  attempts  to  show  that  the  diCliculties  and  dangers  in  its  con- 
struction and  use,  as  set  forth  by  the  board,  are  without  fonudation. 

The  estimate  submitted  to  the;  board  by  Mr.  Menocal  when  it  was  making  up  its 
report  last  fall,  in  New  York,  was,  for  this  d:un,  $i)77,273,  which  was  $250,135.50  in 
excess  of  the  last  previous  estimate  of  the  company. 

In  his  present  testimony,  besides  commenting  adversely  upon  the  board's  views  as 
to  lh(!  then  proposed  structure,  he  characterizes  the  estimate  of  the  board  for  this 
work,  which  is  $4,000,000,  iu  the  following  words,  on  page  64:  "I  regard  the  estimate 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  381 

of  sPl, 500,000  for  strengthening  the  dam  as  a  gross  exaggeration,  and  I  regard  the 
other  estimate  of  $1,500,000  to  take  away  the  flow  of 'the  river  during  the  construction 
of  the  dam  as  dangerous  and  likely  to  lead  to  disaster." 

Now,  referring  ito  his  testimony  ou  page  60,  he  states,  describing  the  dam,  "I 
propose  to  give  it  a  base  of  about  1,000  feet"  (in  the  description  of  the  dam  given 
by  him  to  the  board  under  date  of  September  14,  1895,  he  states  this  dimension 
will  be  prolsably  from  400  to  500  feet),  and  on  page  57,  in  reply  to  an  inquiry  as  to 
what  he  estimated  the  cost  of  the  Ochoa  dam,  he  is  said  to  have  replied,  "inside 
oT  $3,000,000,"  which,  as  I  now  understand,  he  has  corrected  to  $2,000,000.  If  these 
latter  statements  indicate  anything  it  is  that  since  the  board  made  its  report  as  to 
the  proper  dinu(nsions  and  cost  of  "this  structure  he  has  doubled  the  width  of  the 
base  and  Increased  its  estimated  cost  from  about  $1,000,000  to  about  $2,000,000.  Yet 
the  board's  estimate  of  $1,500,000  to  strengthen  it  is  a  gross  exaggeration,  uotwith- 
standing  he  seems  now  to  estimate  $1,000,000  for  that  very  purpose. 

Notwithstanding  his  strenuous  opposition  to  the  views  of  the  board  in  respect  of 
this  structure  he  seems  to  have  concluded  to  follow  them  somewhat  closely  in  the 
matter  of  what  its  dimensions  should  be,  and  the  canal  company  is  to  be  congratu- 
lated upon  this  step  in  the  right  direction,  if  this  ap])arent  change  of  mind  of  Mr. 
Menocal  means  that  the  company's  project  has  enjoyed  a  similar  alteration. 

As  Mr.  Menocal's  testimony  develops  that  he  is  not  now,  and  never  has  been,  the 
engineer  of  the  Maritime  Canal  Company,  and  is  not  now  the  engineer  of  the  con- 
struction company,  it  is  not  known  whether  his  present  statements  as  to  what  ho 
would  do  are  to  be  regarded  as  a  change  of  the  project  of  the  Maritime  Canal  Com- 
pany. When  Mr.  Menocal  presented  to  the  board  the  maps,  data,  and  project  of  the 
Maritime  Canal  Company  the  board  had  that  company's  authority  to  receive  them 
as  authoritative.  Whether  in  his  statements  before  your  committee  he  represents 
the  Maritime  Canal  Company,  the  construction  company,  or  himself,  I  am  not 
advised. 

In  any  event,  so  far  as  the  merits  of  the  review  of  the  Maritime  Canal  Company's 
project  by  the  board  is  concerned,  they  are  to  be  considered  and  discussed  as  upon 
the  plaus'and  projects  as  they  existed  when  the  board  considered  them  and  made  its 
report,  and  not  upon  what  Mr.  Menocal  now  says,  in  the  light  of  tlie  Board's  criti- 
cisms, he  would  make  them. 

In  the  present  defense  of  what  the  company  proposed  or  he  proposes  to  do  at 
Ochoa,  Mr.  Menocal  relies  with  most  stress  and  particularity  upon  experiences  in 
India  in  tlie  following  words:  In  searching  for  precedents  of  rock-till  or  dry-rubble 
dams  built  on  sandy  bottom  to  withstand  the  flow  of  large  volumes  of  water  over 
their  tops,  we  will  liaveto  look  at  the  irrigation  works  of  India,  where  such  methods 
of  construction  have  been  in  i)ractice  for  many  years,''  etc. 

I  acknowledge  the  richness  of  the  field  in  India  for  the  study  of  all  that  relates 
to  works  of  irrigation  and  the  storage  of  water  by  means  of  dams;  and  in  the 
search  for  examples  illustrating  the  ap])lication  and  eftects  of  principles  underlying 
the  construction  of  dams,  while  investigating  the  problem  at  Ochoa,  I  found  it  a 
most  fruitful  and  fascinating  field ;  but  I  do  not  now  recall  a  single  rock-fill  dam,  aa 
understood  in  this  counti-y,  and  proposed  at  Ochoa,  in  all  India. 

Let  us  see  what  are  the  structures  referred  to,  and  of  which  five  are  specifically 
cited  and  described  by  Mr.  INIenocal  on  page  75,  and  upon  which  he  relies,  with 
similar  others,  as  precedents  for  the  success  of  the  Ochoa  Dam  as  intended. 

^l/a;,s«?-.— Keference  is  first  made  to  "  rough  stone  weirs  at  the  heads  of  most  of  the 
irrigation  channels  in  ISIaisur,  which  raise  the  level  of  the  water  to  the  required 
height,  the  lowest  being  7  feet  and  the  highest  25  feet." 

It  will  be  interesting  and  valuable  to  quote  the  description  of  these  same  works 
by  an  English  engineer  of  experience  in  India,  as  follows: 

"The  ordinary  stone  dam  or  anient  in  Maisur  varies  from  7  to  25  feet  in  height.  It 
consists  of  a  mass  of  dry  rubble,  faced  with  large  stones,  placed  on  a  rocky  site,  the 
front  casing  of  stones  oi  feet  by  \l  feet  l)y  1  "foot,  the  rear  aprons  of  large  stone 
blocks  9  by  Si  by  2  feet,  each  stone  projecting  for  one-third  of  its  length  beyond  that 
above  it,  or  about  2^  feet.  The  interstices  are  filled  with  small  rubble.  These 
works  are  unstable  and  leaky,  allowing  all  the  summer  discharge  to  escape,  and  only 
supplying  the  channels  in  seasons  of  flood,  Avhen  again  they  are  easily  damaged  and 
breached.  The  dams  are  curved  and  point  upstream,  having  a  length  about  double 
the  width  of  the  river.  The  crown  is  lower  near  the  head  sluices  to  relieve  the 
pressure  against  them  in  flood." 

Wilson,  referring  to  these  rough  stone  weirs  at  heads  of  channels  in  Maisur,  says: 
"  These  illustrations  gave  a  fair  idea  of  the  attention  given  by  the  natives  to  this 
class  of  work,  and  indicate  the  fallacy  of  trusting  to  size  and  position  of  the  mate- 
rial instead  of  to  the  homogeneity  of  the  work.  Notwithstanding  the  employment 
of  large  blocks  of  stone  and  skillful  application  of  material,  the  dam  was  breached 
five  times  between  1842  and  1863." 

Mudclen. — If  the  "Mudden"  weir  referred  to  in  the  next  paragraph  is  the  "Mad- 


382  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

(lur  "  of  the  same  district,  it  also  is  founded  upon  rock.  It  is  to  be  observed  that  it 
was  reconstructed  and  a  brick  autl  mortar  wall  iutroduced  across  its  iipper  face. 

Agra. — The  Agra  weir  is  cited  as  representing  a  quite  usual  type  of  rough  weirs 
built  in  sandy  bottoms,  with  crest  10  feet  above  river  bed,  and  length  of  2,575  feet. 
The  flood  discharge  is  said  to  be  as  high  as  1,300,000  cubic  feet  per  second,  and  the 
depth  of  water  over  the  crest  about  10  feet. 

The  history  of  tliis  weir  is  most  interesting  and  instructive,  and  I  therefore  give 
space  to  a  brief  description  of  it  and  its  vicissitudes. 

This  weir  is  said  to  have  the  greatest  width  in  cross  section  of  any  weir  in  India. 
As  tinally  constrncted,  for  it  went  through  various  stages  of  design,  it  is  described 
by  several  authors  as  having  first,  two  longitudinal  solid  masoury  walls  extending 
to  the  bed  of  the  river,  about  30  feet  apart.  About  40  feet  below  the  second  wall  is 
a  third,  4  feet  U  inclies  high. 

The  upstream  slope  is  liand  packed  and  laid  dry.  On  the  downstream  slope  the 
intervals  between  the  walls  are  filled  with  large  rubblestoue,  and  A'ery  carefully 
dry  parked  with  very  large  rubble  ou  top.  The  rubble  used  in  the  packing  is  very 
large,  some  stones  being  as  much  as  6  feet  by  3  feet  by  2^  feet,  the  walls  acting  as 
bars  to  prevent  them  sliding. 

There  are  10  sluices  in  this  weir,  each  6  feet  wide  by  10  feet  high.  The  crest  of  the 
-weir  is  10  feet  above  the  lloors  of  the  under  sluices.  The  weir  and  under  sluices  are 
founded  upon  the  sandy  bed  of  the  river  without  any  fouudatiou  below.  The  head 
sluices  are  founded  upon  blocks  or  wells  sunk  to  depths  of  from  9  to  20  feet  and 
hearted  with  concrete. 

The  construction  of  this  weir  was  begun  in  1870,  but  it  was  very  badly  damaged 
before  its  completion  by  a  flood  which  nearly  carried  away  the  head  sluices  and 
scowed  out  a  hole  50  feet  deep  at  the  end  of  the  floor.  The  velocity  over  the  crest 
of  the  weir  at  this  time  was  9.3  feet  per  second,  and  was  estimated  to  be  18  feet  per 
second  some  (iO  feet  below  tlie  crest.  During  several  successive  years  the  lower  end 
was  carried  away,  and  changes  each  year  made  in  its  design  and  construction,  until 
in  1875  it  had  been  built  of  such  form  and  dimensions  and  by  such  method  as  enabled 
it  to  withstand  the  floods.  The  flood  action  on  the  rear  slope,  although  1  in  20,  is 
very  severe.     Even  in  its  final  shape  engineers  have  expressed  doubts  of  its  stability. 

Tlie  accompanying  plan  shows  the  successive  changes  in  construction  it  underwent 
to  enable  it  to  withstand  a  Hood,  much  less  stressful,  as  we  shall  see,  than  those  the 
Ochoa  Dam  is  likely  to  meet.  It  will  be  seen  that  its  first  construction,  in  1870,  was 
nnich  superior  to  that  proposed  at  Ochoa,  not  only  as  related  to  the  duty  to  be  met, 
but  per  so,  and  yet  it  was  inadequate;  and  it  underwent  various  changes,  each  one  of 
whicli  was  a  still  greater  departure  from  any  semblance  to  the  contemplated  Ochoa 
Dam,  and  its  final  outcome  is  a  haud-made  weir  of  the  most  careful  and  substantial 
coustruction,  which,  since  its  fiual reconstruction  in  1875,  has  apparently  stood  with- 
out serious  injury. 

Mr.  Menocal  states  that  the  flood  discharge  is  as  high  as  1,300,000  cubic  feet  per 
second,  the  depth  of  water  over  the  crest  being  10  feet. 

If  this  auu)unt  of  water  flowed  over  the  dam,  of  the  depth  stated,  the  velocity 
would  Ije  about  50  feet  i)er  secoiul,  or  over  34  miles  per  hour.  This  seems  almost 
incredible.  In  the  flood  of  1871,  when  it  was  jiartially  destroyed,  the  velocity  over 
the  crest  wns  only  9i^,f  feet  per  second. 

It  is  prol)ablo,  therefore,  that  the  statement  of  Mr.  Buckley  (who  is  an  authority 
upon  irrigation  in  India)  that  the  discharge  of  the  river  in  high  flood  is  only  about 
1.50,000  cubic  feet  per  second  is  the  correct  one,  and  the  sluices,  to  which  no  reference 
was  made,  ])ass  a  considerable  portion  of  this. 

I  fere  is  a  low  Avier,  only  10  feet  high,  with  a  long,  flat  slope  of  1  in  30,  begun  and 
built  in  the  dry,  with  a  masoury  crest  wall  extending  down  to  the  river  lied,  with 
carefully  packed  surface  of  heavy  stone,  unable  to  stand  the  flow  of  150,000  cubic 
feet  i»er  second,  precisely  the  flow  which  the  board  attributes  to  the  8an  .luan  at 
Ochoa,  but  spread  out  iu  a  thinner  sheet,  and  which  Mr.  Menocal,  in  his  third 
answer,  on  page  64,  calls  an  insignificant  stream.  It  was  so  badly  damaged  year 
after  year  at  flood  seasons  that  it  took  the  dry  seasons  of  five  years  to  gratlually 
strengthen  it  with  additional  masonry,  cross  walls,  and  heavy'aud  substantial  hand- 
packed  ])aving  to  firing  it  up  to  a  condition  of  comparative  safety. 

According  to  the  theories  advanced  in  behalf  of  the  canal  company's  methods  in 
the  fourth  and  fifth  paragraphs  of  page  70  of  testimony,  this  was  all  wrong;  ami 
instead  of  building  and  reconstructing  this  weir  in  the  dry  seasons,  with  the  water 
oft',  and  by  sulistautial  and  careful  handwork  after  the  design  descrilied,  they  should 
have  done  iu)thing  in  the  dry  seasons,  but  carried  on  operations  only  in  the  floods 
by  dropping  loose  stones  on  the  site  for  the  floods  to  dispose  in  their  proper  resting 
places. 

Sonne  Weir. — The  weir  next  mentioned  by  Mr.  Menocal  is  the  Soane,  which  he 
describes  as  being  similar  to  the  Agra,  previously  described,  and  as  resting  on  wells 
sunk  from  6  to  8  feet  in  the  sandy  bed  of  the  river,  three  masonry  walls  being  used  to 


.-.{•: 


ra 


4.3>\ 


DAM  OF  AGRA  CANAL,  OKHLA,   INDIA. 
Transverse  sections  at  different  dates  1870-1873. 


^ 

y^^^^ 


7     ^-K 

<    ro  > 


Secfion  5e/ore  floods  1870. 
ha  30 


120 


I'm^ 


Secfion  before  floods  1671. 
J  in  20 


Son^ ':'•':  \\  '\r\-^'-^^^^ 


<         36  ^i""      180 


Secfion  afterf  foods  1871. 

7  in  20 


^Qciion  in  1872 


1  in  20 


Secfion  in  1873 
>  ^  7 in  20 


40 


Secfion  Complefe. 
>  7  in  20 


S.  Rep.  1109 54—1 


Scale  rf  J'eet. 


Itl. 


I*% 


"^wr. 


^- 


1 1 1 


^-4^ 


CO 


§■ 


K. 


i- 


NICARAGUA    CANAL. 


383 


keep  the  small  stone  in  place.  Between  the  walla  is  a  simple  stone  packing.  He 
gives  the  height,  iucludiug  depth  of  wells,  as  19.3  feet,  and  flood  discharge  750,000 
cubic  feet  per  second. 

The  above  description  is  apparently  derived  from  Mr.  Wilson.  Other  authors  give 
the  depth  of  the  foundation  Avells  as  10  feet.  The  spaces  between  these  foundation 
■wells  are  filled  in  with  concrete,  making  a  continuous  foundation  extending  further 
below  the  bed  of  the  river  than  the  top  of  the  weir  rises  above  it.  The  height  of 
the  crest  of  the  weir  is  only  8  feet  above  the  river  bed. 

The  paving  between  the'  masoury  walls  is  hand-packed  and  laid  dry  with  large 
rubble  stone.  The  down-stream  slope  is  very  flat — 1  in  20.  The  entire  remaining 
portions  of  the  weir  consist  of  large  stone  blocks  dry  packed,  the  masonry  walls  act- 
ing as  bars  to  prevent  sliding.  Further,  the  weir  is  pierced  with  three  sets  of  sluices, 
with  a  total  of  56  openings  of  20  feet  7  inches  each,  which  pass  a  considerable  por- 
tion of  the  floods.  One  important  office  performed  by  these  uudersliuces  is  found  in 
that  the  discharge  through  them  helps  to  fill  up  the  river  channels  below  in  rising 
floods,  and  so  reduces  the  action  of  the  floods  on  the  weir  itself.  The  weir  becomes 
submerged  before  the  flood  attains  its  greatest  height,  which  is  8  feet  over  the  crest, 
with  an  aftiux  of  only  15  inches. 

If  the  important  modification  of  the  stress  on  the  weir  ettected  by  the  56  sluices 
were  disregarded  aud  the  entire  extreme  flood  were  supposed  to  pass  over  the  crest, 
the  velocity  would  be  only  about  10  feet  per  second  on  the  crest  over  a  submerged 
weir,  but  the  sluices  pass  about  one-third  of  the  flood.  The  banks  of  the  river  are 
hard  soil  with  some  nodular  limestone  mixed  with  it. 

"In  order  to  prevent  the  destruction  of  this  weir  by  the  action  of  flood  waters, 
groynes  of  a  peculiar  shape,  called  alligator  groynes,  are  constructed  on  both  the 
up  and  down  stream  sides  at  intervals  across  the  channel." 

Professor  Davidson  states  that  "notwithstanding  the  good  workmanship  and 
apparent  security  of  the  foundation  for  the  scouring  sluices,  the  floods  of  1874 
proved  very  destructive,  aud  not  only  tore  away  the  river  bed  to  a  depth  of  38  feet 
below  the  toe  of  the  talus,  but  in  part  tore  away  the  heavily  packed  interspace 
between  the  lower  wall  and  that  next  above,  and  even  partly  damaged  the  wall. 
*  *  *  The  river  bed  scoured  out  above  as  well  as  below.  *  *  *  The  action 
is  very  similar  to  that  at  the  headworks  of  the  Agra  Canal." 

Bezivada  ireir. — This  is  the  fifth  and  last  of  the  Indian  weirs  adduced  as  examples 
or  precedents  of  rock -fill  dams. 

This  weir  is  founded  on  a  double  row  of  wells  sunk  7  feet  into  a  sandy  bottom. 
The  sandstone  runs  down  to  the  river  on  each  side  of  the  weir.  On  the  foundation 
wells  there  rises  a  massive  wall  of  rubble  masonry  13^  feet  high,  12  feet  base,  and  6 
feet  top,  coped  with  ashlar.  Behind  this  wall  a  mass  of  rough  stone  of  all  sizes  up 
to  5  and  6  tons  in  weight  was  deposited.  At  100  feet  back  another  wall  was  built, 
it  being  6  feet  below  crest  of  the  weir. 

Between  the  walls  the  surface  of  the  weir  is  packed  with  the  largest  stones  placed 
on  end,  the  interstices  being  filled  as  far  as  possible  by  quarry  shivers  jammed  well 
into  them.  Behind  this  second  wall  the  apron  of  the  weir  is  continued  for  about 
another  100  feet  with  large  stones,  the  slope  about  1  in  16.  At  high  flood,  although 
the  water  flows  over  the  crest  20  feet  deep,  the  weir  is  submerged,  and  the  water 
flows  over  with  scarcely  a  ripple  on  the  surface.  One  year  ago  a  short  length  of  the 
body  wall  was  .torn  away. 

Temporary  dry  stone  walls,  4  feet  high,  were  annually  built  on  the  crest  for  the 
purpose  of  diverting  more  w^ater  in  the  dry  season,  and  alter  the  stone  had  been 
washed  off  by  the  floods  they  were  used  in  the  repair  of  the  apron.  This  shows  that 
the  massive  and  heavily  paved  slope  is  damaged  in  floods  and  tliat  repairs  are  made 
every  year  when  the  work  is  dry. 

The  entire  flood  of  736,000  cubic  feet  per  second  mentioned  does  not  all  pass  over 
the  weir.  It  is  to  be  noted  that  this  weir  has  undersluices,  with  60  openings  6  feet 
wide  each,  which  pass  a  large  amount  of  the  water  and  help  to  fill  up  the  channel 
below  as  the  floods  rise,  and  make  the  weir  a  submerged  one  early  in  the  flood. 

I  have  been  somewhat  full  in  the  description  of  these  Indian  weirs,  because  they 
are  presented  by  Mr.  Meuocal  (p.  75)  as  examples  of  rock-fill  dams,  and  precedents 
for  the  construction  proposed  by  the  canal  company  at  Ochoa;  and  by  Mr.  Miller 
(p.  14)  as  being  built  in  the  same  manner. 

As  already  stated  in  my  testimony  before  the  committee,  I  believe  that  a  rock-fill 
dam  can  be  successfully  constructed  at  Ochoa,  and  the  report  of  the  board  states  as 
much. 

I  do  not  approve,  however,  of  the  attempt  at  the  construction  of  this  dam  by  the 
methods  proposed  by  the  construction  company,  exposed  to  the  entire  flood  dis- 
charges of  the  river,  and  its  use  for  the  purposes  of  a  weir  after  completion.  ^ 
Viewed  as  examples  of  and  precedents  for  such  construction  and  use  these  Indian 
weirs  are  failures.  They  are  not  the  same  kind  of  structure  and  do  not  perform  the 
same  office. 


384  NICARAGUA   CANAL. 

In  the  first  place,  the  Indian  weirs  are  not  to  be  considered  as  storage  dams. 
Some  of  them  may,  indeed,  perform  that  office  for  a  short  time  in  the  dry  season. 
They  are  built  as  obstrnctious,  to  slightly  elevate  the  river  surface  and  divert  a  part 
of  its  How  into  irrigation  and  other  channels. 

Tlie  indiscriminate  use  of  the  term  "weir,"  as  descriptive  of  the  Ochoa  Dam,  and 
of  the  term  "  rock-fill  dam,"  as  applied  to  the  Indian  weirs,  must  not  cause  the  mind 
to  lose  sight  of  tlie  great  and  important  distinction  between  these  two  classes  of 
structures,  l)y  which  it  is  sought  to  present  the  sometimes  successful  and  sometimes 
disastrous  low  and  carefully  built  submerged  weirs  of  India,  as  promises  of  safety 
in  a  high  rock-fill  storage  dam  at  Ochoa  to  be  built  and  used  in  a  hazardous  manner 
and  which  is  to  be  the  keystone  of  a  project  to  cost,  perha])s,  $150,000,000. 

The  failure  of  this  dam  would  liberate  the  largest  quantity  of  water  ever  set  free 
at  once  in  the  history  of  the  world. 

I  do  not  think  there  is  a  single  rock-fill  dam  in  all  India,  or  a  single  permanent 
rock-fill  weir,  even,  in  the  sense  of  a  rock-lill  as  intended  at  Ochoa. 

'fhcre  are,  indeed,  in  the  head  works  of  the  Ganges,  three  Weirs,  built  of  rough 
bowlders,  crossing  the  river  one  behind  the  other,  biit  these  are  temporary,  being 
destroyed  each  year  by  the  fioods,  and  it  has  been  found  necessary  to  rebuild  them 
annually,  new  bowlders  being  brought  down  for  the  purpose,  as  the  old  ones  are 
carried  too  far  away  when  the  dams  are  wrecked  to  be  economically  collected. 

Mr.  Wilson  states  "  only  rarely  are  temporary  weirs  constructed  simply  of  loose 
bowlders."  They  are  almost  always  constructed  substantially  of  masonry,  and  are 
well  fimnded. 

The  plans  which  I  have  introduced  in  this  text  will  serve  to  show  more  clearly 
the  careful  construction  of  the  Indian  weirs  quoted,  their  low  height,  and  conse- 
quent light-water  ])ressure,  their  long  easy  slopes,  and  the  fact  that  they  are  in  high 
lioods  siibincrgcd  weirs,  their  slopes  enjoying  this  condition  as  well  as  the  masonry 
walls  and  heavy  carefully  packed  paving  to  protect  them. 

The  Oe-hoa  Da,m  would  be  submerged  in  its  earlier  stages  of  construction,  but  not 
in  the  later,  and  never  after  completion.  Its  slope  would  be  of  stones  deposited  at 
random,  without  cross  walls  to  protect  it,  and  three-fourths  of  it  exposed  at  all 
times  to  the  unolistructed  rush  of  the  waters  down  its  steep  declivity. 

In  the  construction  of  the  Indian  weirs  a  velocity  of  15  feet  per  second  on  a  iiat 
slope  is  regarded  as  a  maximum.  The  velocity  down  the  improved  rear  slope  of  the 
Ochoa  Dam,  during  the  company's  construction,  is  quite  certain  to  reach  25  feet  per 
second,  perhaps  very  much  higher. 

The  canal  companies  have  no  plan  for  the  Ochoa  Dam,  so  that  I  am  unable  to  intro- 
duce one,  but  I  have  shown  its  outline  as  indicated  by  the  written  descriptions 
furnished  to  the  board,  and  superimposed  it  on  the  Agra  weir,  with  which  it  is  most 
closely  compared  bj'  Mr.  Menocal. 

These  plans  also  show  more  clearly  to  the  eye  the  great  difference  between  an 
Indian  weir  and  the  Ochoa  Dam,  and  that  they  have  little  in  common  in  construc- 
tion, dimensions,  steepness  of  slope,  height,  head  of  water  to  be  resisted,  and 
exposure  of  slope  to  the  action  of  fioods. 

So  far  are  they  from  being  examples  promising  success,  that  at  least  two  of  those 
cited  by  Mr.  Menocal,  from  the  testimony  of  authors  conversant  with  them,  are 
striking  warnings  of  the  dangers  of  the  particular  methods  intended  by  the  canal 
comiiany. 

Of  the  Indian  weirs,  many  are  built  to  be  destroyed  every  fiood  season,  and  to  be 
rebuilt  in  the  dry  season.  Others  are  built  to  be  partially  destroyed  or  damaged 
every  Hood,  and  few  escape  injury. 

These  conditions  must  not  obtain  with  the  Ochoa  Dam. 

Too  much  depends  upon  it. 

It  must  be  built  without  these  risks  and  used  without  them. 

To  avoid  these  dangers,  the  board  outlined  in  some  degree  the  method  of  construc- 
tion it  would  suggest,  including  the  control  within  certain  limits  of  the  iiortion  of 
the  ilood  waters  to  be  allowed  to  tiowover  the  dam  during  construction,  its  comple- 
tion in  the  dry  to  120  feet  above  the  sea,  and  its  absolute  immunity  from  the  passage 
of  water  over  its  crest  and  down  its  slope  thereafter. 

For  myself,  the  study  of  the  construction  of  the  irrigation  weirs  of  India,  the 
conditions  to  which  they  are  subjected,  and  the  results,  not  only  in  general,  but  in 
the  very  example  cited  by  Mr.  Menocal,  only  confirm  my  opinion  that  the  precau- 
tions and  methods  contemplated  by  the  board  should  be  followed. 

FLOODS  IN  SAN  JUAN  RIVER. 

,  Both  Mr.  Miller  and  Mr.  Menocal  take  issue  with  the  board  in  its  statement  that 
the  canal  company  estimates  the  highest  fiood  in  the  San  Juan  at  Ochoa  63,000  cubic 
feet  ])er  second  (see  Chicago  paper,  p.  19),  while  the  board  considers  that  150,000  axe 
possible,  and  should  bo  assumed. 


JTigh  Flood  above  Dam. 


OKHLA  WEIR-AGRA    CANAL. 
I'ength  74,3  metres 
.^■f.'--^.....         _. i^Mr.i._ 


ZSlSi;-  ^  - Mi2^L?1^2^—^IP^^^'^ 


Approximate  Outline  or  Ochoa  Dam  as  Proposed  by  Canal  Company  when  near  Completion  in  Broken  Heavy  Lines. 

S.  Kep.  110!) 54—1 


NICARAGUA    CANAL.  385 

The  gentlemen  beg  the  question  by  asserting  that  it  was  assumed  that  the  maxi- 
miim  flood  might  reach  ii3,000  cubic  feet  per  second,  that  this  was  doubled,  aud 
provision  made  for  a  discharge  of  more  than  this  over  tlie  weirs,  etc. 

The  board  has  not  questioned  the  matter  of  discliarging  150,000  cubic  feet  per 
second  over  the  weirs. 

Tlie  board's  statement  had  reference  to  the  maximum  flood  to  be  encountered  and 
handled  in  the  construction  of  the  Ochoa  Dam  and  other  works,  and  it  remains  aa 
correct,  from  the  Chicago  and  other  papers,  that  63,000  cubic  feet  per  second  is  the 
maximum  flood  the  comjiauy  has  considerecl  handling  in  this  part  of  its  work.  The 
trouble  with  this  flood  is  not  in  passing  it  off  when  the  project  is  completed,  but  in 
handling  it  during  construction.  Mr.  Menocal  claims  to  have  weirs  enough  to  dis- 
charge it  after  completion,  but  denies  that  as  much  as  one-half  of  it  will  be  encoun- 
tered in  construction.     See  the  papers  referred  to. 

Mr.  Menocal  claims  a  high  flood  measurement  of  42,000  cubic  feet  per  second,  but 
states  that,  as  the  river  has  been  known  to  rise  higher,  he  adds  50  per  cent  and 
assumes  63,000  cubic  feet  per  second.  The  board's  possible  150,000  cubic  feet  he 
characterizes  as  "  a  rough  and  excessive  guess." 

The  board  had  the  gauging  of  142,000  cubic  feet  referred  to  by  Mr.  Menocal,  and 
while  the  exact  location  is  not  known  the  cross  section  is  known  and  approximately 
the  level,  and  from  the  data  hydraulic  formula  give  approximately  the  river  dis- 
charge at  its  highest  recorded  elevation,  which  record  of  height  the  company  has,  to 
be  nearly  125,000  cubic  feet  per  second.  Therefore  150,000  is  not  a  rough  and  excessive 
guess,  but  must  be  approximately  correct. 

SLOPE  IN  SAN  JUAN  RIVER. 

The  board,  in  its  report,  stated  that  the  slope  of  the  river  in  the  dry  season  would 
be  so  small  that  it  would  amount  to  pra^ctically  nothing  instead  of  4  feet  as  estimated 
in  the  canal  com^iany's  project. 

Mr,  Menocal,  in  his  testimony,  adheres  to  his  original  estimate  of  three-fourths 
of  an  inch  per  mile. 

My  colleague,  Mr.  Noble,  refers  to  this  matter  in  his  statement,  and  I  only  make 
mention  here  of  the  fact  tliat  Mr.  Menocal,  in  his  estimate  of  the  slope,  relies  solely 
upon  observed  slopes  in  the  river  under  present  conditions  between  the  lake  and 
Toro  and  in  the  Aguas  Muertas.  He  appears  to  overlook  the  great  changes  in  these 
slopes  which  must  occur  when  the  level  of  the  river  surface  is  raised  at  Ochoa  about 
60  feet  above  its  low  stage  and  when  the  river  is  dredged  from  Toro  to  the  lake. 

This  rise  more  than  doubles  the  average  depth  in  the  Aguas  Muertas,  and  the 
cross  section  is  increased  about  300  per  cent,  and  other  conditions  reducing  its  slope 
are  affected  accordingly.  The  ruling  conditions  from  the  lake  to  Toro  also  will  be 
greatly  different  when  the  river  is  raised. 

If  the  average  cross  sections  of  the  river,  constructed  for  the  board's  calculations, 
are  correct,  and  the  coefhcieut  of  roughness  of  the  channel  is  correctly  assumed,  the 
hydraulic  formula  must  give  approximately  correct  results  for  certain  discharges. 
Fortunately  an  opportunity  offered  to  check  these  data  for  one-half  the  length  of 
the  river.  Colonel  Childs,  in  his  admirable  report  of  his  surveys  for  a  ship  caral  on 
this  route,  made  in  1852,  gives  the  measured  slope  of  the  river  from  the  lake  to 
Toro,  and  also  the  height  of  the  lake  and  the  gauged  discharge  of  the  lake  at  the 
same  time. 

As  the  results  of  the  calculations  of  the  board  differed  so  greatly  from  those  assumed 
in  the  company's  project,  I  looked  patiently  for  some  means  of  testing  our  work,  and 
finding  these  data  in  Colonel  Childs's  report  I  applied  our  average  sections  of  river 
bed  and  coefficients,  aud  with  his  observed  lake  elevation  and  measured  discharge, 
calculated  a  slope  from  the  lake  to  Toro  of  2v,,7,-  feet  against  2y-\,%  feet  actually  measured 
by  him.  This  satisfied  me  that  the  data  used  by  the  board  were  substantially  correct. 
It  is  interesting,  to  show  the  great  change  of  slope  due  to  the  elevation  of  the  lake 
to  110  feet,  and  the  increased  section  of  the  river  due  to  dredging,  to  note  that  with 
the  same  discharge  observed  by  Colonel  Childs,  the  same  data  gives,  by  the  same 
hydraulic  formula,  a  slope  of  little  more  than  one-half  as  many  inches. 

And  when  the  same  data  and  the  same  formula  are  applied  with  a  discharge  of 
about  10,000  cubic  feet  per  second,  the  slojie  sinks,  in  this  distance  of  28  miles,  or 
one-half  the  distance  to  Ochoa,  to  about  1.2  inches,  and,  manifestly,  the  slope  from 
Toro  to  Ochoa  is  still  less.  What  more  is  necessary  to  satisfy  Mr.  Menocal  that  the 
project  for  a  ruling  depth  of  28  feet  of  water  will  fall  to  r^ne  of  24  feet,  and  as  much 
lower  as  the  lake  will  fluctuate  below  110  feet  above  the  sea? 

It  is  only  a  question  of  how  much  the  project  will  fail  in  being  a  28-foot  canal,  and 
in  the  requirement  of  article  2  of  the  concession,  now  a  contract,  with  the  State  of 
Nicaragua,  that — 

"The  canal  shall  be  of  sufficient  dimensions  for  the  free  and  commodious  passage 
of  vessels  of  the  same  size  as  the  large  steamers  used  for  ocean  navigation  in  Europe 
H  C 25 


386  NICARAGUA    CANAL. 

and  America."  *  *  *  To  give  the  separate  and  detailed  calculations  conducted 
by  members  of  the  board,  with  all  the  calculations  of  coefficients  C,  and  the  long 
and  tedious  approximations  for  slope  in  the  applicatiou  of  Kutter's  formula,  would 
be  not  readilj'  understood  by  any  but  engineers  and  mathematicians  and  would  make 
a  considerable  document  in  itself. 

Despite  the  loug,  tedious,  and  painstaking  labor  the  board  has  devoted  to  the 
mathematical  determination  of  this  slope  in  69  miles  of  the  river,  from  the  most 
carefully  obtained  data  it  could  obtain,  Mr.  Meuocal  declares  its  results,  in  his 
opinion,  "unwarranted  and  inadmissible,"  as  opposed  to  his  guess,  for  there  is  no 
claim  or  pretense  that  he  or  any  engineer  of  the  canal  company  has  ever  computed 
or  attempted  to  compute  the  slope  of  the  San  Juan  River.  He  has  simply  guessed  at 
what  it  would  be  when  raised  to  practically  the  level  of  the  lake  by  the  Ochoa  dam 
from  observations  of  its  slope  at  two  sections  in  the  river  as  it  flows  to-day  between 
its  banks,  18  to  60  feet  less  in  depth  than  it  will  be  when  a  part  of  the  sailing  route 
of  the  canal. 


Date   Due 


^   re  vdH   -Listi  j,tj"ib 

£  AKli\lb^;    ON    hOU^t;    diLL     db 


Hearings  on  House  bill  35  (on  the  Ni  lac 
TC  784  U58  1896 


3  12b2  D^5S^  bb33 


MUtt^m  i)B»(i»<r^a' 


